Perspectives
by scifiromance
Summary: After an accident in Astrometrics, Seven wakes up in a reality where she was never assimilated! How will she get back to her own life and will she want to? C/7 and a little bit of Tom/B'Elanna.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: I know I've already got 5 ongoing fics but I've decided to start this one anyway. (None of you mind when I start a new fic, do you?) It's set immediately after "Homestead". Thanks to Sweetdeath04 for supporting this idea!**

Seven frowned slightly at the Astrometrics console as her third scan of the upcoming sector of space once again threw up results that didn't quite add up. Jerking her head up in frustration she glanced over at Icheb, who was also pouring over the readings, his young face a picture of bemusement. "I presume that you also cannot find a reason for these erratic results?" She asked him quietly.

"No…" He muttered, "It is quite a puzzle…" He mused, tapping the edge of his console thoughtfully.

The sound of the doors opening smoothly behind them interrupted them as did a deep, warm voice, "What's the puzzle Cadet?" The new arrival, Commander Chakotay, asked in curiosity as he approached both former Borg.

Icheb flushed with pride at being referred to by his new rank and stood to attention in front of his senior officer. "The puzzle to which I was referring Commander was the unusual readings we're getting from Sector 5486.3."

Chakotay smiled at Icheb but his eyes moved, with questioning raised eyebrows, to Seven. "What's so unusual about them Seven? The scans Harry ran on the Bridge scans didn't reveal anything."

Seven swallowed nervously under his penetrating gaze. "That does not surprise me, only the Borg enhanced scanners read the slight difference in field variance between this section of space and the area surrounding it, basically it seems to be slightly out of sync with the rest of space and we cannot find a reason for it."

Chakotay frowned in thought for a moment. " Maybe it's some sort of shield around the territory which would knock it out of sync."

Seven shook her head lightly. "A logical conclusion but none of the planets in this sector have been inhabited for millennia."

"Then it's a natural phenomenon, do you think it poses the ship any danger? It'd take at least a week to go around it at full warp." Chakotay was interested, but he still couldn't risk the ship to satisfy his curiosity.

Seven smiled half heartedly. "None that I can see Commander, we should proceed as planned, unless something new is uncovered…" She couldn't keep a sigh from seeping into her voice and to her surprise Chakotay, already standing close to her, put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Sometimes we never know the reasons for certain things Seven, it's frustrating I know, but it's the way life works sometimes." He told her softly.

"That is a reasonable view to take…" Seven murmured, before avoiding his eyes entirely and changing the subject, "Can we do anything to assist you Commander? I have yet to complete my daily report…I became distracted…"

"No!" Chakotay shook his head vehemently and stepped back from her. "Don't worry about the report, I can get it later…" He fought the urge to colour under her confused gaze but failed miserably. "I actually came to ask if you were coming to the party tonight…"

Seven tensed up against the console, "I hadn't planned to… What was it to celebrate again?"

"The Bajoran Gratitude Festival." Chakotay answered.

"Neelix never celebrated that…" Icheb began.

Chakotay smiled sheepishly, "I know, but with Neelix gone , I thought the crew could use a morale boost and Tal Ceres suggested we celebrate one of her holidays. It's a time to be grateful for what we have."

"A wise suggestion." Seven complimented quietly, causing Chakotay to smile at her.

"You should go Seven. Your shift ended half an hour ago, I can stay here and keep an eye on the situation. I'm sure the Commander would appreciate your companionship." Icheb pressed, his eyes moving knowingly between his guardian and the First Officer to such an extent that Seven blushed even more but couldn't reprimand him for his forwardness with Chakotay right next to her.

"I _would_ appreciate it Seven, really." Chakotay urged carefully.

Seven bowed her head, sufficiently cornered. "As you wish."

"Then let's go." Chakotay said smilingly and gallantly indicated for her to leave Astrometrics in front of him, which Seven, her legs shaky, duly did.

"Have fun!" Icheb called after them, finding himself irrationally pleased by this new development.

* * *

As they walked side by side towards the Mess Hall, Seven searched her brain for a topic of conversation, finally she asked, "Is your ankle fully healed?"

Chakotay was pulled from his own fretful thoughts by her question, relieved that she had broken the awkward silence. "Oh, yes. It's been better for a while now, the Doctor hardly had to do anything in the end, the Ventu really knew their ointments."

Seven smiled at the memory. "Yes, and many other things also."

Chakotay nodded in agreement before peering at her anxiously, "You feel better about how we left it now?"

Seven looked at him, surprised by his lingering concern. "Yes, a great deal better." She replied after a minute or two of thought, "You were right, we did everything in our power to protect them and still return to Voyager."

Chakotay let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "I'm glad we've come to the same conclusion…" He stopped when he realised they'd walked straight past the Mess Hall's entrance and backtracked quickly, Seven following suit and they walked in to a heavily decorated Mess Hall, lit with large taper candles which were surrounded by crewmembers burning small scrolls.

"What are they doing?" Seven asked curiously, fingering one of the blank scrolls which were lying out on a table to be taken.

"It's a Gratitude Festival tradition. You write down what you're grateful for and what you wish you had on one of these scrolls and burn it as you pray to the Prophets to grant the wishes for you in the coming year." Chakotay explained as he too picked up a scroll and a pen.

"What I wish I had?" Seven murmured thoughtfully as she unrolled her scroll.

"It's private, you don't tell anyone." Chakotay clarified, not wanting to breach her privacy.

Seven thought in silence for several minutes and just as she had tentatively written the first word on her scroll, the ship was rocked by a violent shudder. Everyone began to look at each other in fearful confusion before Icheb's voice exploded fearfully through Seven's comm. badge. "Seven! Please report to Astrometrics!"

"On my way!" Seven replied, setting off at a run with Chakotay only just behind her.

* * *

The floor of Astrometrics had a disturbing tilt to it as Seven and Chakotay ran in. "What's happening?" Chakotay asked Icheb urgently.

"I don't know Commander! Space is warping, we're being knocked out of sync!" He replied frantically as Seven ran to her console.

"Impossible…" she began as she tried to read the results but didn't get any further as when she placed her hands on the console an incredibly powerful shock of some sort surged through her and the last thing she was aware of was hitting the hard floor.

* * *

"Seven… Seven…" Chakotay's distant whisper on the edge of her consciousness forced Seven's creaky lids to open, her head thumping with a resounding headache, but when her eyes focused all she could she was a non-descript ceiling above her, which she knew belonged to neither Astrometrics nor Sickbay. Where am I? she thought dreamily, her confusion deepening as she realised her head lay on a soft downy pillow and heavy duvet half covered her. Why am I in a bed? I don't sleep… Her adrenaline finally kicked in and she sat up abruptly. She was in a bed, in an unfamiliar sunny bedroom! Her gaze flicked around frantically and found a window which looked out onto a bustling human city. Am I dreaming? She considered as she glanced down at herself, no longer in her biosuit but in some sort of nightdress, her loose hair brushing her shoulders… Gulping violently she tried to catalogue her surroundings, only to be hit with an even bigger shock, an unknown and half naked man lying asleep in the bed beside her!

**A/n: I hope this has piqued your interest so far! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Hi! Thanks for all the support for this fic, here's a new chapter!**

Seven's lips parted in shock as the breath caught in her throat, what was she doing here? More importantly, what was this man doing here, his muscular arm tight around her waist? Just as this thought passed through her mind, the man let out a soft groan and shifted positions, Seven let out a ragged gasp as his eyes fluttered open and he looked at her, "What's up Annika? You have a nightmare or something?" his sleepy grey eyes gazing at her in concern.

"I…I don't know…" Seven mumbled brokenly, thrown by his use of her human name but thankfully having enough presence of mind to wrench herself free of his grip and back away from him down the bed. "What…what am I…what are we…doing here?" she asked shrilly, failing utterly in her attempt to stay calm.

The man frowned at her quizzically, now sitting up himself. "We live here Anni hon; we have done for the last four years."

Seven stared at him with incredulous disbelief. "That's impossible! I've been on Voyager for…" She stopped as he smiled at her sympathetically, wildly hoping for an explanation as he reached over for her.

"I think you maybe overdid it last night with the red wine and tequila sweetheart…" He assured her as his hand reached up for her face, but she flinched violently and twisted her whole body away from him, hurt vividly crossing his face as his fingers touched only empty air.

Seven gulped hard as she forced herself to observe him more carefully. "You're Trill…" She murmured as her eyes travelled up his handsome frame and saw the telltale twin rows of dark spots running down each side of his body.

The man laughed at her, "After five years together, you're only noticing that now Annika?" he joked playfully.

"_Together_?" Seven squeaked out, pushing herself off the bed and onto the carpeted floor as she did so and backing against a wall. "What do you mean? I don't know you…" She whispered fearfully, her eyes fluttering around the room like a caged animal.

"Annika, don't joke with me this morning, I'm hungover and the engagement party was so perfect last night so don't…"

Seven didn't even begin to process his words as her eyes found a refuge, a small bathroom, and she bolted inside, ludicrously glad when the door automatically locked behind as she allowed her legs to give way and collapse on the toilet seat. Where am I? This can't be Voyager…unless I'm on the holodeck… "Computer, deactivate programme!" She hissed into the silent air but everything stayed exactly as it was and nausea began to overwhelm her, forcing her to put her head between her knees to try and alleviate the dizziness which clouded her brain. As she did so she heard what sounded like a phone ringing in the other room and the Trill's deep voice answering it but for her own sanity she shut the drifting voices out.

Perhaps I've been caught in a temporal anomaly, she considered. Am I in my own future? She blushed deeply at the thought but dismissed it; if I was in my own future then he would know about my past on Voyager, so what are my other options? She didn't have time to think anymore through as there was a soft knocking on the door. "Annika, that was your little sis on the phone…"

Seven's frown deepened; this situation was getting more surreal by the millisecond! "My little what?" she asked in bemusement.

His voice grew louder, obviously thinking she just couldn't hear him. "I said Astrid called! You've to meet her in Times Square for lunch before you go to your wedding dress fitting." He heard Seven's sharp intake of breath and grew more worried. "Are you feeling sick? I promised I'd take my parents back to their transport this morning but I'll stay with you if you're ill…"

"No!" Seven exclaimed. That was truly the opposite of what she desired, though she doubted that he would understand that. Beginning to comprehend the importance of coming across as normal, she called through to him in as steady a tone as she could muster, "No, I am fine. You were correct; I must have overly intoxicated myself last night… Please, fulfil your obligations to your parents."

"Right…okay." Seven could tell by his tone that she hadn't fully convinced him but thankfully he let it drop. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Certainly." Seven replied shakily, feeling relief rush through her as she heard him leave the apartment. As she tried to stand her gaze fell on her left hand, and the glimmering diamond on her ring finger, making her gasp as realisation hit her. An engagement party, a wedding dress fitting, I'm that man's fiancée! In silent awe she rotated her hand in front of her eyes, but then another change struck her, her left arm had no trace of any Borg implants. Slowly she ran her other hand over the left side of her body but no implants revealed themselves. Not wanting to believe her senses she halted in front of the bathroom mirror, only to see a frightened, but completely unscarred human face staring back at her, _her_ face. "No…impossible…" She murmured as she ran both hands over her smooth face, "I can't live without my implants…" Yet here she was, undeniably human, standing in a skimpy nightgown which she doubted left much to the imagination of that Trill, being identified by her original designation and living on Earth…

Deciding she could learn little else from the confines of the bathroom, she gingerly walked back out into the bedroom, now seeing the half drunk bottles of red wine and tequila which the unnamed Trill had referred to as she headed straight for the computer console. "Computer, access Starfleet Science's files and look for anything anomalous incident within the last 9.4 minutes." She ordered.

"One incident." The Computer replied.

"Clarify." Seven ordered again.

"At precisely 0930 hours on Stardate 7763.9, 4th of June 2377, scanners registered an unknown spacial anomaly in the European sector of Earth's atmosphere." The Computer explained.

It was the same day here as it had been on Voyager, if slightly earlier and the anomaly had occurred just as she was regaining consciousness, she must have been knocked out of phase with her reality somehow… She could remember Ensign Kim telling her of an incident when an alien had sent him into an alternate reality, could _she_ now be in the body of an alternate Annika Hansen? "Computer, open my personnel file." Seven ordered nervously. She spent the rest of the morning reading her file. Her birthday and her parents were the same, but there was no mention of the Raven or the Borg. She apparently was a doctor of quantum physics at the Nobel Institute, had graduated forth in her class of two hundred at MIT… Despite the situation, Seven felt irritated by being forth, rather than first. More importantly, her parents were alive and living on Earth and she _did_ have a younger sister, Astrid Hansen…

Her head was beginning to ache again, why was any of this relevant anyway? This life wasn't hers, she had to get back to Voyager! "Computer, show the files of the U.S.S Voyager."

"U.S.S Voyager, year of commission 2370, commanding officer Captain Geoffrey Taylor…" The Computer began to list off.

"Taylor? What happened to Captain Janeway?" Seven asked anxiously.

"Captain Kathryn Janeway retired. Commanded Voyager's maiden mission into the Badlands and successfully captured the Maquis freighter…"

"Wait! Voyager hasn't been lost in the Delta Quadrant?" Seven exclaimed.

"The U.S.S Voyager has no recorded travel in the Delta Quadrant." The Computer coldly confirmed. Seven swallowed hard, nothing about her life was the same… What exactly was she supposed to do now?

**A/n: I'm not overly pleased with this chapter, but please review and tell me what you think! Sorry it wasn't Chakotay with her… (Not yet anyway!)**


	3. Chapter 3

Seven rubbed her eyes as the facts and figures from every incident of reality displacement blurred together in her brain, this basic little home console did not have the power, or more pertinently the security clearance, she needed to access any helpful data that might inform her how to go about using or recreating a spacial anomaly. Perhaps the Nobel Institute, where this version of her worked, would have a larger bank of scientific data… She felt a large shiver run through her and glanced distractedly down at herself, she was still in a nightgown, no wonder she was cold. Casting her eyes around the unfamiliar room she saw a white blouse and black pencil skirt laid out on a dresser. Her social lessons with the Doctor told her that this outfit would be appropriate for the workplace so she threw them on as quickly as she could and after several minutes searching through the apartment for shoes and hairpins, trying her best to ignore the frankly disturbing photos of her with people she didn't know, she methodically noted down the address of the Institute, stuck it in a neat black handbag discarded on the floor and bolted from the apartment with a sense of relief.

Unfortunately, this sense of relief didn't last long as she was confronted with a bustling city street, her fear of crowds viciously reasserting itself as she scanned the street for some sort of directional marker. After several confusing minutes her eyes settled on someone who appeared trustworthy, a young woman with a stroller. "Excuse me?" Seven asked her with stilted politeness, "Can you direct me to the Nobel Institute?"

"Yeah, sure." The woman replied brightly, "Just get the on the Main Line subway route at Peterson station, two blocks west of here, and ride it for five stops then you're there." She read Seven's still utterly perplexed expression and frowned slightly. "Or you could just take a taxi, there's a rank just behind us." She pointed it out with one hand.

Seven spotted the small vehicles and sighed at her own lack of knowledge. "Thank you for your assistance." She murmured to the woman, not even waiting for a reply before she jumped in a taxi, the driver jumped violently at the unexpected passenger. "Please direct this vehicle in the direction of the Nobel Institute." Seven ordered impatiently.

"Okay, no problem." The driver grumbled. When they arrived, his strange passenger began to get out without paying. "Hey! Taxis aren't free you know!" He yelled, only to get what looked like the entire contents of her handbag thrown at him in reply before she disappeared into the large building.

Seven was barely through the large glass doorway before she heard a loud cry, "Annika!"

Seven shied violently at the sound until her eyes fell on a brunette woman, behind what she assumed was the reception desk, waving her over. Cautiously she approached, her unfamiliar heels clicking loudly on the marble floor. "Yes?" she enquired carefully.

The woman's brow furrowed slightly at Seven's uncertain tone, but a smile quickly replaced it as she said, "Annika, I just wanted to thank you for inviting Joe and I to the party last night, we had so much fun that I don't think Joe is as averse to marriage anymore!" She laughed at her own joke but Seven's gaze was already wandering as she considered what she should do. "Something wrong Annika?" the woman questioned, her brows rising in concern.

Seven bit her lip for a moment, there were too many things wrong to count! "Would you mind…telling me exactly where my office is…" She paused as she finally read the increasingly incredulous looking woman's nametag, "…Eileen?"

Eileen frowned at her, "You've _forgotten_ where your office is?"

Seven ran a hand through her hair as her mind raced to come up with even a remotely possible excuse. "I drank a little too much alcohol last night and I fell over and hit my head…"

"Shouldn't you go to the hospital? It sounds like you have a concussion!" Eileen exclaimed, "With Traxim being a doctor and all I would've thought he…"

Traxim, so that's his name… Seven realised with a sharp intake of breath. "No, he said I was fine and I have some very important research to do. Please just direct me."

"Okay…it's on the second right hand corridor, third one down. Your name is on the door, can't miss it."

"Oh, yes. I remember now." Seven said lamely as she headed off to where Eileen was pointing.

"If you start to feel any worse just go home!" Eileen shouted after her, but got no response.

* * *

Seven spotted the smart door with her name on it almost immediately, Dr A. Hansen, Quantum Physics Research Department, but found that it was locked by a key code. Just as she was about to start her Borg "hotwiring" as Lieutenant Paris had always called her unique skills, a short man in a lab coat, looking almost ludicrously excited, ran up to her. "Annika, I think I finally found our gateway to Fluidic Space! There's a strange phenomenon in the area of space know as the Badlands in the old Neutral Zone…"

"Fluidic Space? You're researching Fluidic Space?" Seven echoed in disbelief.

"_We're_ researching Fluidic Space, unless you've suddenly forgotten the last four years of hard graft!" He laughed.

You have no idea, Seven thought silently, before thankfully coming up with an idea how to get access to a computer. "Why don't we go to your office and we can study what you've found?" She suggested, making his face light up even further.

"Of course…" He muttered happily, ushering her into the large office directly across from hers and heading for a large console, bringing up a large picture of the Badlands and streams of data Seven immediately recognised from Voyager's old scans, the Caretaker's array! "Now I was looking at the data from that holy grail of a crashed Cube and referencing it with Starfleet files, I think this…" The man glanced at his files, "…U.S.S Voyager almost flew straight into Fluidic Space seven years ago while chasing after some of that Maquis scum…"

Seven winced at her Maquis crewmates being referred to as scum and answered him without thinking, "Your theory is incorrect. Fluidic Space is entirely inaccessible from the Badlands; in fact it's not even naturally accessible from anywhere…"

The man put his hands on his hips in an agitated fashion. "And when did this eureka moment come may I ask, Dr Hansen?"

Seven paled as she realised she'd gone far too far, "I interviewed the Captain of that vessel…there's nothing there…and I decoded more Borg files and I don't think Fluidic Space is worth…"

"Well maybe you should interview that Starfleet stooge again! Those people wouldn't know physics if a black hole swallowed them! As for those files I'd like to see them myself!" The man raged, turning red in the face.

"Captain Janeway is an accomplished quantum scientist." Seven replied coldly, suddenly undaunted as she leapt to her Captain's defence. "As for the files, they are not completely decoded yet…"

Her colleague glared at her, visibly struggling to keep his temper under control, It's a good thing we've worked so well together up to this point Annika…" He hissed, before continuing in a low tone. "Make sure you prove your theories before you fling them in your superior's face next time or you may not keep your post. You're dismissed, go back to work."

"Understood." Seven replied stiffly, fleeing the room, only halting for breath when she was back in the quiet of the corridor. Obviously she wasn't going to get the assistance she needed here, but that conversation had given her an idea. If Captain Janeway really had barely missed being pulled into the Delta Quadrant in this reality, perhaps she would be able to convince the Captain of her identity and receive her help, she'd managed to do it when the Relativity had brought her into Voyager's past and she really couldn't think of any other options…

* * *

The warm breezes of the California coast pulled at Seven's hair and skirt as she walked slowly down the street of palatial suburban villas, one of which the _retired_ Captain Janeway apparently resided. Finally she reached the sun bleached steps of number 1124, the Captain's address, and shakily rang the doorbell. After a rush of muffled footsteps the door opened and Seven felt the breath being forced out of her chest with shock. "Captain?" she gasped out.

"Yes?" She replied blankly, her auburn hair much longer and piled messily on top of her head, wearing a light green blouse and white linen cropped trousers, and most shockingly for Seven, she had a little boy, who looked little more than eighteen months old, balanced precariously on her hip. "Excuse me?" she questioned again when the young blonde woman made no response, "Can I help you with something miss?"

Under her stare Seven finally managed to pull her wits together and pulled out the small ID she'd found in her alternate's purse. "Yes…I think so. I'm…Dr Annika Hansen with the Nobel Institute in Stockholm, I'm researching the anomaly you discovered in the Badlands while commanding the U.S.S Voyager…"

Janeway raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes? That seems like a lifetime ago…" She trailed off as she glanced at Seven's proffered ID; it looked legitimate, even impressive. "You're a quantum physicist?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes…I am." Seven confirmed uneasily.

"That was my field of study…" She began excitedly before being distracted by her little boy tugging on her top and smiling fondly at him. "I took the Starfleet route into it of course…"

"Yes. I know." Seven replied, starting to think, as she observed how relaxed and happy the Captain looked, that she'd made a big mistake in coming here.

Janeway nodded at her. "Please come in." She offered, moving aside as Seven reluctantly stepped in.

"Thank you Captain." Seven replied quietly, sidestepping a toy train on the floor as she was welcomed inside.

Janeway waved her off, "Call me Kathryn. Being called Captain doesn't exactly hold pleasant memories for me." Her face darkened for a moment before she shook it off. "We'll sit in the kitchen to talk; it's the heart of the house." She told her, opening the doors to a spectacular open plan kitchen and proceeding to clip her toddler into a nearby highchair.

"It's a pleasant environment…Kathryn." The name stuck unnaturally in her throat as she peered curiously at the little boy. "What's his name?"

"Brendan. He's twenty months old today and I can barely believe it." Kathryn replied as she sat down at the large kitchen table and indicated for Seven to join her, which she did. "Now what exactly do you want to talk about?"

"The mission into the Badlands. I think I've discovered what the anomaly was but I wanted to hear your recollections."

Kathryn stared at the younger woman's unreadable expression for a moment. "I filed a mission report…"

"I…I wanted to hear it from you." Seven replied, gulping hard.

"Okay… Well, we were going in after some Maquis, but I'm sure you already know that…" Seven nodded slowly and she continued, "We had just caught sight of them when the ship began to shake, it was practically being pulled apart…We thought it was a new weapon, but then my Operations officer said the space around us was actually warping, I changed headings and it was over." She sighed deeply, "What do you think it was?"

"I believe…" Seven's voice died on her lips for a second as she realised how big a lie she was telling the Captain, just to get help. "I believe it was an opening to an alternate reality."

Kathryn's eyes bugged out. "An alternate reality? I suppose…it's possible with Einstein's theory and the incidents on two of the Enterprises and Deep Space Nine, thank God we… That mission was bad enough!"

"Yes. Thank God." Seven murmured sadly. "Do you know if Starfleet has investigated the incidents?"

Kathryn studied her for a moment before beginning in a confidential tone, "You should take this data to them straight away, my old mentor told me recently they're trying to open a gateway between realities, if you don't tell them what you've discovered you'd be in serious trouble. Of course, I don't deal with those sorts of messes any more…"

"No, of course you don't…" Seven mumbled in a dispirited tone. "What happened to them?" she asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"The Maquis. The file said you captured them but…"

Kathryn's face grew visibly thunderous. "The survivors were thrown in the New Zealand Penitentiary, too damn good for them if you ask me, you know, sixty two members of my crew were killed on the mission, they're murders the lot of them…" She paused as she saw how ghostly white her visitor's face had gone. "Hey, are you alright?"

Seven gulped back the wave of nausea which had overwhelmed her at this piece of information, "Yes…I am undamaged..." Ignoring the odd glance she got for that turn of phrase, her mind continued to race wildly. How could _all_ of her former Maquis crewmates _possibly_ be in jail? They weren't criminals!

Her trail of thought was interrupted by a new male voice nearby, "Hey Kate, who's this?"

Seven looked up and felt her mouth drop open as she recognised the Captain's former fiancé, Mark, surrounded by two school age children, a boy and a girl. "This is Dr Hansen; she was interviewing me for her research." Kathryn replied.

"What's the research?" The boy asked inquisitively, earning an elbow in the ribs from his sister.

"Don't be so nosy Aidan!" She rebuked.

"Well, you stop being such a bossy boots Ciara!" He retorted hotly.

"Hush! We have a guest." Their mother told them both sharply before turning back to Seven with a smile. "Here are my two reasons for leaving Starfleet."

"Twins?" Seven whispered and she nodded. "All your children have Irish names." She remarked with a sad smile, thinking of how her Kathryn Janeway would react to this.

"I'm proud of my ancestry." Kathryn replied. "Would you like some iced tea or…"

"No, no…" Seven shook her head as she stood on wobbly legs. "I must go. Thank you very much for seeing me…" She headed hurriedly for the door, bolting down the street before they could even say proper goodbyes as tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't ask that Kathryn Janeway for help, she didn't deserve the disruption even if she believed her story… I'm human; the Captain has a perfect life here, but the Maquis… Her distraught thoughts were rudely pushed back by a loud ringing echoing from her handbag. When after several rings it still refused to stop, she answered the phone very brusquely, "What?"

A female voice echoed through, "What happened to hello? I'd rather be the snippy one right now because you've kept me hanging around Times Square for _three_ hours! Where the _hell_ are you?"

Seven rubbed her forehead, an already raging headache worsening as she struggled to think of who this could possibly be. Finally her memory kicked in, "Astrid Hansen?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes Annika, it's me, your baby sister." She replied in a tone laced with irritation and sarcasm. "Now, I'll ask again, where are you?"

"I'm…in California somewhere. Santa Monica I think…" Seven replied, even more shaken by talking to her non-existent sister than she had been talking to Janeway.

"_California_!" Astrid exclaimed in disbelief, "Why…"

Seven felt a sob seep through her lips, "Pursuing a…pointless endeavour…"

Astrid's tone changed into one of concern. "Have you been crying Annika? Did you have an argument with Traxim? Come and meet me and we'll talk about it."

"It's nothing you could possibly understand…" Seven whispered tearfully.

"Wait and see, just come alright Annika? I'm all worried about you now!"

Seven's mind reeled, the Captain was oblivious, and Commander Chakotay was either in jail or even dead… Her Voyager family didn't exist here; all she had left was her biological family of strangers… "Fine. I'll come and meet you." She finally replied in trapped defeat.

**A/n: Very long chapter (Maybe even my longest ever!) but I didn't get into my stride until at least the Janeway section, the beginning was crap I know but review anyway please! I promise Chakotay ****will**** make his appearance soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Here, thanks." Astrid Hansen muttered as she paid the coffee vendor and then valiantly attempted to balance the two cups of coffee in her arms along with the five PADD deep stack of holo-newspapers she was already holding as she scanned the street once again for her _very_ late sister and huffed in agitation, it wasn't _her_ wedding dress on the line but still, it wasn't at all like Annika to be so, well, flaky. Finally she spotted a familiar figure stumbling up the flight of stairs leading from the underground transporter terminal integrated with New York's historical subway network. As the blonde reached street level, Astrid knew it was her and called out, "Annika! I'm over here!" Annika seemed oblivious though, her body language weirdly skittish as she just stood there, looking thoroughly disorientated.

Seven had to put her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare of the surrounding buildings, neon lighting plastered to every surrounding wall, what was this, Ferenginar? What exactly was the point of such attention seeking commercialisation when replicators were everywhere? Buildings and people closed in on her, the effect was suffocating and panic inducing… She had to stifle a cry of fright when she felt someone grab her wrist, a loud voice echoing in her ears even above the overwhelming sound of traffic, "Annika, are you deaf as well as blind? I've been standing here shouting you over for the last five minutes." Seven automatically tensed in self defensive before her eyes took in the young woman addressing her, shorter than her by perhaps half a head, her gold hair cut in a sleek chin length bob and clear blue eyes frowning at her in teasing frustration. So this was Astrid. At least she'd found her, after all she'd only have been able to recognise her voice… "Annika? You alright?" Astrid asked in concern, when she didn't get the witty retort that was usual from her big sister.

Seven shook her head lightly in an attempt to clear it and peered at Astrid in concentration. "Yes, I…" She remembered the previous question, "My sight and my hearing are both fully functional."

Astrid's lips pursed in confusion before she laughed and lightly tapped Seven on the arm, making her jump. "Good one, I was just joking Anni." Smilingly she attempted to pass one of the coffee cups to Seven. "Skinny latte, just the way you always nag people for." She noticed her peering at it askance and sighed, "It's not replicated, God, you're so fussy!"

That of course, wasn't what Seven had been thinking. How could a drink possibly be categorized as "skinny"? She dismissed the question as irrelevant as Astrid moved on at a brisk walk, motioning for her to follow which she hurriedly did. "What is our destination?" She asked breathlessly as she struggled to weave in and out of the knots of people and stay in step with "her" sister.

Astrid smirked slightly at her phrasing and glanced down at her watch before answering, "I _think_ we still have time for lunch at Renaldo's before the appointment, _if _we hurry."

Seven could only nod in response, she had no references with which to form an answer, then whipped out her hand and caught a PADD in the process of falling from Astrid's arms. "What's this?" she asked curiously.

Astrid's face lit up. "Read it and see!" She challenged in a light tone.

Seven peered at the PADD, a holo-newspaper brandishing the title, "The New York Times", its first page an assortment of articles and pictures. "You will have to point it out to me Astrid."

Astrid sighed and stabbed an index finger at the bottom left hand corner. "Read that by-line."

"By Astrid Hansen." Seven read out from the title line of the small paragraph. "You wrote this?"

"Yep!" Astrid exclaimed proudly, beaming with excitement. "A front page article before I'm twenty five! Do you know how rare that is?" I'm officially a journalist now, whatever Papa says about it being a dead profession." As she said that she suddenly sat down at a small table under a red awning and Seven cautiously joined her as Astrid looked at her expectantly.

"Yes…it's an excellent achievement." Seven said, sensing that was what the younger woman wanted to hear.

Astrid smiled warmly at her. "Thanks Anni…" she began before the waiter interrupted her and took their orders which thankfully Seven could do without any trouble, though Astrid's eyebrows rose at her order of a salad and a glass of water. "You know you don't need to diet right? The wedding's not for nine months." This was news to Seven but she just bobbed her head submissively, deep in thought. "By the way, why is your hair like that? I haven't seen your hair up since your ballet lesson days." Astrid commented when Seven didn't make any attempt to start conversation.

"My hair?" Seven repeated, perplexed. "It's…more efficient to work this way."

"Well if you want my opinion, it's a bit severe." Astrid replied, distractedly moving the lemon in her drink around as she posed her next question. "So, work was the reason you were in California today?"

Seven gulped, she had hoped to be a little surer about where she and Astrid stood before she confided anything. "Not exactly…" Seeing Astrid's curiosity levels rise in her eyes she panicked. "It was nothing, of a personal nature really…"

"Work _is_ personal for you Annika." Astrid replied knowingly, making Seven smile slightly, obviously some parts of her nature remained unchanged. "But you really sounded _upset_ on the phone; you can tell me you know…"

Seven studied her earnest face for a moment and took a deep breath. "Astrid, what do you know of alternate realities?"

Astrid was thrown by that and took several minutes to respond, an incredulous look on her face, "No more than what my high school science teachers told me…" She laughed at Annika's disappointed expression, "Come on Annika, you should know I'm the black sheep in our family when it comes to science…" She saw that Annika was looking upset by this and gave her hand a squeeze. "What is it, hmm? Did they take you off that, what is it called…Fluidic Space project you like so much and give you alternate realities instead?"

Seven shook her head, any hope of help dying within her. "No, it doesn't matter." She rose from the table, "I have to go…"

Astrid started in surprise. "What about the dress appointment you have at four at the bridal boutique? The one you were on a waiting list _three_ months long to get?"

Seven swallowed hard and had to lean on the chair for support before looking Astrid straight in the eye and saying with stiff clarity, "It wouldn't be right for me to pick a wedding dress today."

Understanding of sorts began to dawn on Astrid; something had _definitely_ gone wrong with Traxim, again. "What's that arrogant fiancé of yours done now?" she asked in an accusatory tone.

Seven rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Nothing. This has nothing to do with him whatsoever…"

Astrid tried a different tact and put a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "Look, Mama and Papa invited me home for dinner tonight, I'm sure they'd be delighted to see you." Seeing Annika bite her lips, her complexion paling even further as an emotion she couldn't read crossed her features, Astrid pressed on, "I happen to know that Mama's making strawberry cheesecake for dessert…"

Seven's head lowered unhappily, "Are you sure they'd want to see me?"

Astrid's brow furrowed in confusion. "Of _course_! They always want to see you!" She smirked, "You're the prodigal daughter, the good one, the one they don't have to keep an eye on." Seven nodded slowly, even as those words, meant to comfort, stabbed her in the heart.

* * *

The house which was supposedly her family home, set within a leafy suburb of New Haven, Connecticut, came into view with Astrid's exclamation of "We're here!" in a tone of forced cheerfulness as she looked anxiously at her withdrawn sister, who'd hardly said a word since she'd agreed to come home. Seven followed her up the drive, trying not to look at anything too hard as she struggled with her emotions. Astrid walked confidently into the house without knocking, "Mama, Papa!"

"I'm in the kitchen honey!" A female voice echoed through the house, recognition of her mother hitting Seven like a kick to the gut.

Astrid instantly made her way there but turned back went she realised Annika had remained frozen in place. "Aren't you coming?" she questioned. With a shudder Annika came back to life, her head snapping up sharply as she obeyed and followed her sister into the warmth of the large kitchen where she saw a female figure bent over an oven, her back turned to them.

Astrid approached the woman fearlessly and hugged her tightly from behind. "Hi Mama, how's dinner going?"

Erin Hansen smiled askance at her younger daughter. "Fine love, you really should learn to cook, since you're so preoccupied with your meals…" She stopped as she turned to face Seven, her face lighting up. "Annika sweetie! I wasn't expecting you home tonight…" She came forward to envelop her daughter in hug, Seven was too stunned to follow her natural inclination and move away from her, but she did go as stiff as a board, fighting the tears that blurred her vision as the distantly remembered scent of her mother's perfume hit her nostrils. Erin, noticing her daughter's resistance, pulled back. "Is something wrong sweetheart?" Seven shook her head soundlessly, words utterly beyond her. Erin smiled, dismissing her demeanour for now. "Your father will be over the moon to see you my love…" She paused before continuing in a more confidential tone, "Starfleet Science has _finally _recognised our Borg research…" Seven gulped, feeling faint as her mother shouted through the house, "Magnus! Annika and Astrid are here!"

Magnus Hansen appeared in the doorway, beaming. "I know I heard the three of you from the office Erin…" He paused as he saw how strange Annika's expression was as she stared at him. "What's the matter Annika love? You look like you've seen a ghost…"

"Papa…" Seven croaked out, for a moment the frightened six year old girl again as the healthy, smiling man before her contrasted so sharply with her last memories of him, a drone blindly attempting to assimilate her at the Queen's command… "I feel unwell." She mumbled, keeping her gaze firmly away from any of them. "Where may I go for a rest please?"

"Your room is the way you left it dear…" Erin said, reaching for her face, "Do you want any painkillers or…"

As her mother's hand brushed her face Seven shot back from her in shock before trying to recollect herself. "No, I…" She got no further; bolting for the staircase she hoped led to her bedroom.

As Annika disappeared, Magnus whirled round to face his younger daughter. "What's that arrogant bastard done now?" he hissed.

Erin gasped. "Hush Magnus, she'll hear you! That isn't the way you should speak about your future son-in law…"

"The evidence speaks for itself Erin." Magnus replied darkly, still expecting an answer from Astrid.

"I don't know if it's Traxim this time Papa, she's been acting _really_ weird all day, she was apparently in California this morning…" Astrid began anxiously.

Magnus cut her off with a sigh, "It doesn't matter, I'll go talk to her."

* * *

Seven somehow navigated the upstairs and walked into what she assumed was her room, since the other one with a single bed in it still had "Astrid's Room. KEEP OUT!" scribbled on a juvenile sign pinned to the door. Sitting on the bed she found herself looking at all of the other Annika Hansen's achievements, ballet and ice skating trophies, school certificates, photographs… Suddenly the thought that this other Annika may have woken up in _her_ body on Voyager hit her and a bitter sound between a laugh and a sob left her throat, perhaps the crew would be disappointed to get her back, the Borg drone, once they'd had the human version for a few days… She was jerked out of these thoughts by a knock on the door and her father's voice, "Annika, may I come in?"

Seven nodded without lifting her gaze, hearing him sigh in relief before sitting beside her on the bed without saying a word and after several minutes of silence she found herself staring directly into his eyes as she asked, "What happened to the mission on the Raven Papa? The one to find Borg?"

Magnus was surprised, both by the direct chill in her gaze and the harsh note in her voice. "The Raven? I didn't think you remembered that, it was so long ago, you were barely three when we were planning to leave…"

"Why didn't you?" Seven asked in a choked whisper.

Magnus chuckled. "Fate intervened; your mother discovered she was expecting Astrid and we decided to put it off."

"Indefinitely?"

"Not at first but… Oh it would have been such an experience…" He sighed regretfully, "Still, things have maybe worked out for the best."

"They certainly have." Seven mumbled under her breath, out of his hearing.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?" Magnus asked gently. When she shook her head vigorously he kissed her forehead, "Alright honey, we can talk when you feel like it, get some rest."

She watched him leave, her brain churning. She had been wrong to think she could ever remain here, this wasn't her life, it wasn't fair to the other Annika to be without her family anymore than it was fair if she never saw Voyager again… Slowly she slid the engagement ring off and laid it aside on the bedside table before rising and heading to the computer in the corner, entering the search words Maquis and New Zealand Penitentiary.

* * *

Astrid walked into her sister's bedroom to see her engrossed in the computer. Giving into sisterly curiosity she looked over her shoulder to see a Federal Prison file, when she saw the man's picture she exhaled, "Federal Prison? Why are all the hot men always bad boys these days?"

Seven was about to twist round and tell Astrid in no uncertain terms not to be so frivolous when she read the final line of the file. "Prisoner 23890, Kotay, Amal, a.k.a. Chakotay facing extradition to Cardassia to face charges for alleged acts of terrorism."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n: I know I only updated this on Wednesday but this chapter just had to be written! I'll try to update "Fascination" tomorrow, for now, enjoy this!**

Icheb stared at the Astrometrics console in disbelief, unable to understand the garbled readings his scans were spitting out. Just then, as the floor began to tilt more violently, Seven ran in, with the Commander right behind her. As he struggled to stand upright, Chakotay asked the young cadet urgently, "What's happening?"

"I don't know Commander! Space is warping; we're being knocked out of sync!" Icheb replied frantically, relieved to step aside as Seven ran to the console and began to read the results.

"Impossible…" Icheb heard her murmur under her breath, he was just turning to look at her when the console she was working at surged uncontrollably, some sort of energy he couldn't identify shooting through her hands and into her body like bolts of multicoloured lightning.

Icheb began to cry out but Chakotay was faster, "Seven!" he shouted in horror, reaching forward and seizing her arm, intending to drag her away but as soon as they touched the current flowed into him with just as much merciless violence. Abruptly, as suddenly as it had started, the whole phenomenon ended, the ship steady once again but eerily silent. For a split second Seven and Chakotay stood sickeningly still, as if paralysed, then their eyes rolled back in unison and they hit the floor in a tangled, lifeless heap.

Icheb's voice refused to obey him for several seconds, finally escaping in a strangled cry of panic, "_Seven_! Commander!" He stopped his hand halfway as he knelt down to them, re-evaluating the wisdom of interfering with them after seeing what had happened to the Commander. Fighting the instinct to hyperventilate, Icheb hit his comm. badge so hard that he'd later find a bruise on his chest, "Doctor! Medical emergency in Astrometrics!"

Hearing the uncharacteristically undisguised fear in Icheb's voice, the Doctor paused halfway through treating a second degree plasma burn received after a conduit had exploded and opened his comm. line, "What happened Icheb?" he asked in concern.

Icheb had to gulp repeatedly as his shock began to recede and was replaced with crushing reality, what if it was too late? What if they were both dead? "It's Seven…Seven and Commander Chakotay, they were both hit by…" He grasped around for a remotely accurate description of what he had seen, finding none, "…an unidentifiable energy discharge…" He felt sobs rise in his throat as he heard the Doctor inhale sharply over the comm. line, "I…I don't even know if they're…they're still…"

"It's alright Icheb, don't worry, the Captain and I are on our way." The Doctor comforted as best he could, even as he seized his med kit, already fearing the worst.

* * *

Captain Janeway frowned anxiously at the two lifeless figures of her First Officer and her Astrometrics Officer laid out on neighbouring biobeds, fighting the urge to pace as the Doctor slowly scanned them once again, fully aware of Icheb watching proceedings with a mute, stoic mask on his face, there was no need to traumatise the boy any further. Seeing the Doctor lay down his tricorder with a deep and frustrated sigh, she took this as her cue and spoke up in an agitated tone, "You still can't find _anything_ wrong Doctor?"

The Doctor sucked in his cheeks and looked at her apologetically, "No, as far as I can tell they're both unconscious for no reason whatsoever, all my medical programming says they _should_ be as awake as the rest of us."

Icheb's eyes narrowed as they focused for a moment on the unmoving features of his guardian before they flicked scathingly over to the Doctor, "Obviously your programming is incomplete because they are _not_ awake."

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but the Captain stopped him with a slight shake of her head as she headed over to Icheb and gave his shoulder a motherly squeeze as he reluctantly looked at her with angered, pain filled eyes. "Listen Icheb, we're doing all that we can for them here but I think it's an…inefficient use of your time to stay here. Since you saw the incident and can understand the readings of the event more than anyone else…" She glanced at Seven regretfully, "…more than anyone currently available anyway, I'd like you to go and help B'Elanna and Harry analyse Astrometrics, okay?"

Icheb nodded in that sharp, almost bird like way he had in common with Seven, composure flooding him again. "Of course Captain, as you order." Both the Captain and the Doctor smiled warmly at him and he blushed slightly, ashamed of his irrational actions. "Thank you for your patience." He said quietly, leaving hurriedly before either the Captain or the Doctor could reply.

The Captain looked after him for a moment before turning back to the Doctor, her face darkening in foreboding as her own emotions fought for expression. "Don't you have _any_ clues Doctor?"

The Doctor answered her without meeting her gaze directly, too absorbed in something on his console's screen. "I've just got the comprehensive results of their brain scans back…"

"And?" The Captain interrupted anxiously.

"Their first scans I ran, the ones when I first reached Astrometrics are anomalous, the brain waves were jumbled, confused…"

Janeway bit down hard on her lips. "They have brain damage?" she asked in a pensive whisper.

"That's the odd thing, no they don't, not at all and the scan I ran just now shows normal human brain activity, just as I'd see in you."

The Captain frowned, not sure whether to feel relieved or more worried. "If that's the case, then what can we do for them?"

The Doctor shook his head and ran a hand over his balding head, looking sheepish. "Nothing." He admitted, "We just have to wait and see if they wake up on their own…"

He was interrupted by a soft groan and the Captain's eyes shot round to see Seven's eyes fluttering open, her right hand rubbing her temple. Smiling brightly at the Doctor as he hurried over to his now conscious patient, Janeway said wryly, "Speak of the devil Doctor."

The Doctor just smirked in reply and smiled down at a bleary eyed and confused looking Seven, "Welcome back, how are you feeling?"

Seven's brow furrowed deeply and she stared up at the Doctor blankly, taking several seconds to response and sounding unsure of herself when she did, "I have a killer migraine, that's for sure…" she muttered distractedly before her voice took on a tighter edge as she absorbed her surroundings, "Where am I?"

"You're in Sickbay." The Doctor informed her gently, "There was an accident in Astrometrics…"

"Astrometrics?" Seven interrupted, her voice becoming higher pitched, "I don't know what you're talking about but…" She sat up, her hands gripping the edge of the biobed as she did so and her head swivelling frantically. "This isn't right… I was in bed with Traxim after the party and…" She trailed off and the Captain began to feel her concern deepen.

"I don't know what you're talking about Seven, were you having a dream while you were unconscious?" she enquired with gentle curiosity.

Seven stared at her blankly, as if at a stranger. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" When the Captain didn't reply, too stunned and confused to respond, agitation began to replace bemusement and fear in Seven's eyes, "Look, I don't know what kind of hospital this is, but in my book it's rude to address a patient by whatever number you filed them under! My _name _is Annika Hansen, _Dr_ Annika Hansen! Will you please call my fiancé out of the waiting room or wherever he is and tell him I want to go home _whatever_ happened?"

"Seven, I…" The Captain began but was interrupted by a painful groan from Chakotay.

"God, my head…" He moaned in disorientation.

Janeway and the Doctor exchanged pensive looks before the Captain took a change and called over, "Chakotay?"

"Yeah?" Chakotay muttered, sitting up shakily but his face immediately became thunderous as he laid eyes on Janeway."God, you're even coming to heckle me _without _my lawyer now? As I've already told many of your worthy colleagues _Captain_…" The word dripped with contempt, "I don't give a damn about your Cardassian peace treaty, you can go tell Starfleet Command to kiss my…"

* * *

"Seven!" His own voice ricocheted through his head as he grasped her arm, every thought wiped from his brain as shocks burned up his veins… Chakotay jerked awake with a shuddering gasp, his head throbbing as if he'd drank five bottles of illegal Andorian ale but alertness quickly came and his gaze shot around the room without really seeing. "Seven! Seven, are you alright?" The shout had left his lips before he realised he was utterly alone and, apparently, not even on Voyager, let alone Astrometrics, but in a tiny concrete cell with a miniscule barred window. What happened? Where am I?

A dry chuckle accompanied the fizzle of a deactivated forcefield as a burly man in a grey jumpsuit carrying a tray of food entered the cell. "Seven?" he questioned with a laugh. "Your dreams getting kinky now, Kotay?" He laughed at his own joke as he set down the tray and turned to leave but Chakotay grabbed his arm, making the man grab his phaser.

Chakotay backed off as the man's finger rested to the trigger, hands submissively aloft. "Okay, okay, I just wanted to know where I am, where my ship and crew are…"

The man looked at him incredulously before reading his earnest expression and letting a knowing smirk grace his flabby features. "You are in the New Zealand Penitentiary, until the Cardassians finally mange to get their hands on you that is."

**A/n: Please review! :D I hope no one's annoyed about how the story's developing!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n: A BIG thank you to TheFoundersDaughter for updating "Amy" twice today with two brilliant chapters! She's also got more C/7 stories in the works so keep an eye on her profile!**

Chakotay stared at the guard in stunned disbelief, struggling to get a mental grip on this surreal situation. How the hell had he got from Astrometrics to Earth, not just to Earth but the toughest jail on the planet? "What? That's impossible…" He began, finding it impossible to keep his fear induced anger under control.

The guard uttered a sarcastic laugh. "Really? What are you going to say next Kotay? That you're innocent?" When he saw Chakotay start to nod he chuckled bitterly and grabbed him by the sack like grey prison suit that had somehow replaced his Starfleet uniform as he deactivated the room's barrier and dragged him down the dank, depressing hall towards a large door. "Tell it to your Maquis pals! Maybe a while in the fresh air will help you recall why you're here!" The next thing Chakotay knew he'd been flung out the door, falling hard onto the stony ground, his face becoming splattered with damp muck. Well it's not a dream, Chakotay concluded silently as pain coursed up his nerves from his newly bruised hands and knees. After lying there for a few seconds to try and gather his wits he rose slowly off the ground to take in his surroundings. He was in a corner of a desolate exercise yard, closed in on all sides by twenty foot fences wired with electro-static charges, littered with groups of men in identical grey suits just like his, languidly lounging around on graffiti covered benches or playing particularly violent games of basketball. Only the bright midday sun, plastered on a clear, cloud dusted sky, somehow alleviated the feeling of entrapment and frustration the whole place could barely contain.

Suspiciously he walked over to the fence, a sinking feeling flooding his heart as he saw how impenetrable it was, it reminded him more of a Cardassian concentration camp than any Federation prison he'd ever been in, and everything seemed off kilter somehow, not as it should be. Had Species 8472 created another Earth based holodeck programme to trap the crew in? If so it was off the mark… "Not looking for a way out this way are you Chakotay? I'd have thought you be more subtle…"

Chakotay jumped at the voice and was shocked by who he saw when he twisted round, his mouth dropping open slightly. "Suder?" He asked incredulously.

The rubber faced Betazoid smirked at him. "Yeah, you want another introduction?"

"No… Suder, do you have any idea what's going on here?"

The other man leaned into him, putting his hand up over his mouth in a conspiratorial fashion. "Well, I just heard from my lawyer this morning that the Supreme Court allowed the Cardassians' appeal. We're going to be shipped out of here within a fortnight if we don't find a way out of here but I'm sure you already know that, with your contacts." He slammed his fist into the fence, visibly enjoying the painful shock of electricity shooting up his arm, his eyes glinting at Chakotay, who shuddered as he remembered just how much of a homicidal maniac Lon Suder was, obviously whatever had happened here had loosened the self control Tuvok had so painstakingly tried to teach him. Chakotay followed the Betazoid's shifting gaze; only now seeing a neighbouring yard, identical to this one except it was full of women. Suder winked at a woman by the gate and dryly commented, "You want me to arrange conjugal visits for us again Chakotay?"

"Conjugal visits? With whom? And anyway, aren't women supposed to have _separate _prisons?" Chakotay asked blindly, deciding to just go along with Suder to see what he could learn about what was going on.

"Budget constraints I suppose." Suder replied before chuckling as he said, "I don't remember you complaining last time you paid off the guards to get a little…quality time with Seska…"

The sound of that name hit Chakotay like a baseball bat around the head and he felt his eyes bug out as he stared at Suder. "Ses…_Seska_? Seska is _dead_!"

"No, I don't think so!" Suder laughed cruelly, "Did you have a falling out with her or something?"

Chakotay had to ground his teeth together to control himself. "Yes…you could say that…" He muttered tightly before turning swiftly away from Suder and rapidly making as much distance between them as he could, pounding his knuckles into his forehead as he did so. What sort of sick beings were controlling this? Even being displaced from his body wasn't as unnerving as this and if it was some sort of comatose dream, he needed the Doctor to wake him up _now_. Conjugal visits with Seska? He shuddered in disgust at that thought, both at the thought of them together and the memory of a time when that possibility would have been pleasant to him…

"Hey, watch it man! I'm figuring out bets here!" Chakotay was wrenched from his thoughts by that strident exclamation and looked down to see that he'd walked straight into a card game, literally crushing the playing cards into the dust with his shoes.

"Sorry, I…" Chakotay began but stopped as he saw who he was faced with, Tom Paris, bent over the cards and hoarding the makeshift betting chips, who peered at him apprehensively, despite the light of recognition in his blue eyes. "Tom!" Chakotay exclaimed in relief. "Do _you _know what's going on here?"

Tom's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, we're playing poker." He finally muttered sarcastically after a long, confused pause.

Beginning to feel irritated but willing to give Tom the benefit of the doubt that he may just not want to raise suspicion, Chakotay obligingly stepped out of the circle of gamblers and shot Tom a serious, questioning look, getting only a blank stare in return. "Look Tom, can we go over there and talk for a minute?" He suggested, feeling relief surge through him when Tom gave a short, reluctant nod and indicated a shady corner of a nearby building.

Tom stopped abruptly, fists at the ready and glaring at Chakotay. "What the hell do you want from me huh? I thought we agreed to leave each other alone."

Chakotay couldn't really take in that statement and, perhaps unwisely, ignored it. "You can stop faking now Tom; just tell me what happened to Voyager, to the crew!"

Tom's brow creased, "Voyager? That ship with the bitch who threw me back in here once she'd got what she wanted? What were your words to me then? Oh I remember, you said, "I guess you know what it's like to be betrayed now?" Well, I suppose I do, can you stop rubbing it in?"

Chakotay practically growled with frustration. "Tom, I don't understand what the hell is happening here but…"

"Join the club. I don't know what you've been taking but I suggest you try to get back to our universe." Tom remarked with a snort of contempt and went back to his cards as Chakotay tried to process what had just happened before a realisation hit him, could he be in an alternate universe?

* * *

Chakotay groaned in frustration as he rolled over on his hard prison issue bed and glared at the forcefield. He was in an alternate reality, there was no other explanation for this, he'd run through them all countless times during the night and nothing else explained everything that had happened. Not that this theory was actually helping much, from a cell he could do nothing to help himself… Suddenly the burly guard from before appeared at the forcefield and deactivated it, stepping inside. "What do you want?" Chakotay snarled, not in the mood for any interaction, particularly not with his jailer.

"Now that's the old Kotay I know and love!" The guard retorted sarcastically before answering his question. "I've to escort you to a meeting."

"With who?" asked Chakotay, his curiosity piqued in spite of himself.

The guard shrugged. "Some scientist chick wants to ask you and some of your traitorous cohorts about the Badlands. You're going whether you want it or not, so come on." This time he didn't get any argument out of Chakotay, who followed him silently.

* * *

As he stepped into the bland meeting room, Chakotay was met with another surprise, Tom and B'Elanna were already waiting there, glaring at each other. "Chakotay!" B'Elanna exclaimed happily, immediately hugging him, which he accepted gladly, despite feeling disturbed by her total lack of baby bump.

"Don't hog him B'Elanna." A smooth, husky voice advised from a far off corner as its owner slowly approached them.

"_Seska_!" Chakotay hissed at the sight of her, unable to keep the hatred out of his voice as he protectively pulled B'Elanna back from the Cardassian, although he was nauseated to see her still masquerading as a Bajoran here.

"Chakotay, what are you doing?" B'Elanna asked in bemusement, brow furrowed.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Seska asked in that syrupy, innocent tone he'd fallen for too many times.

"_Don't_ Seska…just don't…"He growled, feeling his hands curl tightly into fists as she continued to approach him.

Seska was saved from Chakotay by a guard's appearance in the doorway. "This is Dr Hansen, she has requested not to have an escort but there are security cameras so don't try anything."

Dr Hansen? A hope seeded itself in Chakotay's mind and he stared intently at the door as the woman entered. "Seven?" he whispered before he could stop himself.

An implant free Seven stared at him in disbelief for a second before choking out, "Comm…Commander?"

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'll try and update tomorrow, do you want the next chapter to be focused on Seven and Chakotay or their alternates on Voyager? **


	7. Chapter 7

Seven felt every muscle in her body freeze in place as Chakotay's whisper of her name, well her designation, echoed in her ears undeniably. She felt her lips part in astounded disbelief as she stared at him, not exactly appearing how he had on Voyager by any means, but admittedly neither did she. "Comm…Commander?" She choked out, not quite willing to trust her instincts enough to say anything further, lest the bubble burst.

He beamed at her, his dimpled smile showing so much happiness and relief to see her that she felt herself begin to blush furiously. "Seven!" he exclaimed joyfully, "Thank God! What's happened to us?"

"We're…" Seven began but was unceremoniously interrupted by a confused sounding B'Elanna.

"Do you know her Chakotay?" she asked sceptically as her gaze flicked between her old friend and the strange blonde, who had addressed him by a _Starfleet _rank of all things.

Chakotay flung her a sympathetic look, after all he seemed to be friends with B'Elanna in this reality too, and said in his most calm yet no-nonsense tone, "Yes B'Elanna, she is."

"_How_ exactly?" Seska asked shrilly, "You're grinning at her like some sort of clown!"

Chakotay pointedly ignored her but Seven shifted uncomfortably under her accusatory glare as Tom's eyes scanned the newcomer's body appreciatively and he chuckled at Seska, "Any man would grin at her Seska."

Seven's face paled at the name, familiar from her study of Voyager mission logs, and quickly glanced at Chakotay, who nodded darkly at her, even as Seska shrieked angrily at Tom, "I don't know what gives you the right to intervene, you collaborating scum…"

Seven took action before Tom even had a chance to retort, going to the door and calling sharply for the guard, who materialized at her side almost immediately. "Yes Dr Hansen?" he inquired politely.

"I'd like Seska to be removed from this interview immediately, I did not request her presence here and she is being disruptive." Seven stated in a harsh and unequivocal tone.

"She was one of the leaders of the Maquis mission to the Badlands ma'am; we thought her input would be of use to your study…" The guard began to explain while glaring at Seska.

Seven cut him off. "She won't be, in _any _way. Remove her." She didn't bother keeping the venom from her voice or her glare as Seska was quickly dragged from the room by the guard, much to Chakotay's visible relief and to B'Elanna's shock and anger.

"Chakotay!" B'Elanna shouted angrily. "How could you let this _stranger_..." She indicated Seven with a wild hand gesture, "…do that to Seska?"

Chakotay rose from the table with a sigh, his knuckles turning white with frustration. "Look B'Elanna, I know you don't understand right now but getting rid of her is the best thing, just trust me on that okay?"

"Get _rid_ of her?" B'Elanna shrieked in disbelief. "She's my best friend and _your _lover last time I checked!"

Chakotay ran an agitated hand through his hair as Seven, irrationally irritated by B'Elanna's reference to Chakotay and Seska's relationship, piped up hotly, "She's also a Card…"

"Seven!" Chakotay hissed at her in warning through gritted teeth.

Feeling ashamed by her lack of judgement, Seven bowed her head. "I apologise Commander."

"It's okay." He assured quietly as he pulled her aside as best he could from Tom and B'Elanna's gazes and whispered urgently, "Where are we Seven?"

Seven sighed deeply. "I believe the accident in Astrometrics has sent us to an alternate reality." She paused and peered at him in confusion, "I did not surmise that you would be here also. I thought it only affected me because I was in contact with the console…"

"Well, I did grab you to try and pull you away…" Chakotay explained, surprised when a turbulent cloud of horror and guilt settled on Seven's face at his words.

"That was an irrational risk to take!" she snapped angrily.

"That was my decision!" he began to retort but stopped himself as another thought hit him, "Wait, if you didn't know I was here, why did you go to all this trouble to talk to my alternate who, presumably, doesn't know you?"

Seven bit her lips tightly and Chakotay thought he saw tears glitter in her eyes for a second as she replied, "I don't know… It was illogical I suppose, but I…"

This increasingly intriguing vein of conversation for Chakotay stopped abruptly when he got a rough tap on the shoulder and turned around in irritation to see Tom and B'Elanna frowning at them incredulously. "Mind letting _us_ in the loop here?" Tom asked sharply.

* * *

The Captain stared at Chakotay, or the man who looked like Chakotay but obviously wasn't, as he stopped for breath in his insults of her, having already called her a Cardassian puppet and the bitch who had put him in jail after his Maquis crew had_ saved_ Voyager in the Badlands. None of it made any sense and she decided to say so, "Chakotay, Seven, I know you may find this hard to believe but you've been in an accident, you just need to trust me and relax while the Doctor tries to help you. None of what either of you are saying is making any sense…"

Seven, who'd been fearfully silent during Chakotay's rant, now found her voice again and it was angry, "Why should I trust any one of you? You've kidnapped me and flung me in the same sanity category as some Maquis convict!"

Chakotay snorted, "And what exactly are you, with all that metal all over you?" he retorted but began to regret it as confusion and fear diffused over the still very pretty woman's face.

"What?" she asked with her brows deeply furrowed in disbelief, "What do you mean _metal_? I don't have…" She stopped midsentence as her gaze followed his and settled on her cybernetic hand, a choked gasp leaving her throat. "Wh…What? This is impossi…" She gasped out, sobs echoing in her voice as she glared at the Captain and Doctor. "What the _hell_ have you _done_ to me?" She shrieked, not waiting for an answer as she caught her full reflection in a mirror and uttered a blood curdling scream as her hand flew up to her face in confirmation. "No…_no, no_!" She screamed hysterically, her cries degenerating into sobs as she stood up to her full height in front of the mirror. Taking things into his own hands the Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Chakotay shouted as it sunk in that the poor woman was in an even worse situation than he was.

"Seven, listen to me, you were assimilated almost twenty three years ago…" The Doctor began to explain as gently as he could but she cut him off, screaming wildly.

"_Stop calling me that! I'm not a Borg! I think I'd remember being assimilated_!" She wrenched herself away from the Doctor but fell backwards onto Chakotay as her legs gave way beneath her and she descended again into heart wrenching sobs.

The sound of Janeway's comm. badge stopped her from immediately going to help as Icheb's shaky voice wafted through the comm. line. "Captain, I believe we have discovered what happened in Astrometrics."

"Well?" asked Janeway tersely as she watched Seven cowering in a corner and Chakotay looking ready to lash out in panic.

Icheb took a deep breath. "The event was the opening of a rift between alternate dimensions."

**A/n: Happy Easter everyone! Please review! :D Sorry that this is so short, I went shopping today and now I'm tired. I'm not sure about my portrayal of the alternates' reactions… Do you want me to update this again tomorrow? **


	8. Chapter 8

As the implications of Icheb's words sunk in, Janeway stared at Chakotay and Seven, now beginning to realise that she had two complete strangers in her midst rather than trusted friends and colleagues. Slowly she tapped her comm. badge to respond, "Are you saying our Chakotay and Seven are lost in the reality these two came from?"

"It's most likely…" Icheb replied pensively, "But as there are an infinite number of alternate realities, there is no way to be sure…"

"Oh…" Janeway muttered, it was exactly as she had feared. Pulling herself together, her voice fell into its default commanding tone, "All are senior officers report to the Briefing Room, you too Icheb, it seems like we have a huge task ahead."

"Stay with them and keep them calm for the moment Doctor." She ordered the Doctor quietly, who was just beginning to nod when Chakotay spoke up in an agitated tone, pushing himself up from the floor where the Borg woman still lay curled up, sobbing quietly.

"If you think I'm just going to happily sit here while you're dealing with this, you're sadly mistaken Janeway. It's my…" He paused and glanced down at Seven, who had fallen silent and seemed to be listening to him, "…_our_ lives you're playing with here!"

Janeway's face softened in sympathy and she stepped closer, reaching to put a comforting hand on his shoulder and, despite herself, feeling disconcerted when he pulled back, his face determinedly set. "Chakotay, I know how you feel but believe me when I say that no member of this crew would _play _with your or Seven's lives, no matter how different a reality you came from…"

Chakotay, distrustful as he was, heard sincerity in her voice which caught him off guard. He was even more surprised when he heard the Borg woman's voice beside him, her face pale and tear streaked but her voice remarkably controlled considering the hysterics of a few minutes before, "Even if we took you at your word Captain, you _need_ us to help you, after all, only we know what we experienced." She said firmly, though her voice caught a little in her throat as she wiped her face with her metallic hand and shuddered violently.

Chakotay nodded vigorously in agreement. "We're the closest thing to your friends right now, weird as that is."

Janeway sighed, their argument was persuasive and it didn't feel right to cut them out completely. She looked at the Doctor questioningly, "Are they fit to leave Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded decisively, "There's nothing physically wrong with their bodies Captain…"

"Unless you count the fact that I'm a cyborg and that I'm wearing a catsuit." Seven, no, Annika, Janeway and the Doctor corrected themselves, said tersely as she frowned down at herself in disbelief.

The Doctor sighed as he began to explain, "It's a biosuit to protect your implants."

Annika glared at him, "Well, whoever made me…her wear this is a pervert!" She snapped. The Doctor blushed and the Captain couldn't help but throw a smirk at him as she tried not to laugh, forgetting the seriousness of the situation for a second.

"It seems it's their conscious minds which have switched, rather than their bodies." The Doctor finally muttered, Annika's comment having knocked the wind out of him.

"I can see that Doctor." The Captain replied as she smiled at the two semi-strangers, "Come to the Briefing Room when you're ready, the Doctor and I will wait for you."

* * *

"What do you think has happened?" Harry asked Tom anxiously as they waited in the Briefing Room for the others to arrive.

"I don't know, this being Voyager, it could be anything but…" Tom began, only to be interrupted by Tuvok's voice, which somehow still managed to express disapproval perfectly well despite his being supposedly emotionless.

"It would be prudent Lieutenant, to wait until the Captain has had an opportunity to explain the situation before engaging in reckless speculation." The Vulcan advised from his well established place at the table.

"We're just worried about Chakotay and Seven Tuvok, since we have no idea what's wrong with them…" Tom began to justify himself but stopped as his wife and Icheb entered.

"We know now." She said quietly as she sat down, her baby bump so large she couldn't pull her chair into the table.

"Well?" Tom questioned anxiously but before she could answer the doors swished open to reveal the very two people they were discussing, along with Captain Janeway and the Doctor.

"Hi Seven…" Harry breathed in a dazed voice as he took in a dramatically different Seven, in black trousers and a long sleeved white blouse, her hair loose and brushing her shoulders.

She looked blankly around the room. "I'm not Seven, I'm Annika, Annika Hansen." She replied tightly, rubbing her aching head as she tried to process their shocked expressions before slumping into the nearest chair.

Chakotay, coming in just behind her in equally casual clothes, smiled with indescribable relief when he saw B'Elanna but as he took in her uniform confusion blurred his features. "B'Elanna?" he asked cautiously, now uncertain of her identity.

"Hey Chakotay." B'Elanna greeted gently but as she stood up he paled in shock.

"You're…you're pregnant! Who…" He choked out, not believing his eyes.

He followed everyone's gaze, excepting Annika's of course, to Tom and felt himself fly of the handle."_Him_? You're with that conniving little traitor?" he practically snarled, glaring at a mystified Tom all the while.

"Chakotay…" B'Elanna murmured soothingly. "I know you'll find this hard to believe but in this reality Tom is my husband and I love him, okay?" She felt Chakotay searching her face with his eyes for several seconds before nodding slowly and sinking into the chair next to Seven's.

"Er…excuse me? What do you mean in this reality?" Tom asked, utterly confounded. The Captain sighed deeply and proceeded to explain.

**A/n: This is probably my shortest chapter ever and I'm sorry but I've been busier than I thought I would be today, please forgive me and review anyway! **


	9. Chapter 9

"Mind letting _us_ in on the loop?" Tom's sharp question made Chakotay and Seven fall into an awkward silence of indecision, much to Tom's incredulous amusement and B'Elanna's wild irritation the pair exchanged several nervous but somehow meaningful glances before Chakotay's fists clenched at his sides and he stepped closer to his two fellow prisoners. Sighing deeply as he held their attention with his steady, serious gaze, he decided to take it slowly, "I'm not who either of you think I am…" He began carefully, but their expressions just grew even more agitated and perplexed.

"Chakotay, I've known you for years, okay so you've been acting a little strange since this _woman_ came here out of the blue, but you're still the same person…" B'Elanna interrupted him emphatically, glaring viciously at Seven all the while.

Chakotay opened his mouth to try and explain further but Tom suddenly spoke up in a tone of realisation, "Wait B'Elanna, how _do _we know it's Chakotay? It looks like him and all but it could be one of those shape shifters…a Changeling, impersonating him right now for all we know…"

B'Elanna shook her head angrily. "No, not Chakotay! If anyone's a spy, it's her!" She pointed her finger accusingly at Seven but Chakotay stood in front of her protectively, frowning at B'Elanna as he raised his hands up into the air in a defensive stance.

"For God's sake, stop arguing and making accusations while I try to explain…" He told them both sharply, earning himself only cold, distrustful stares in return.

"Why should we? You're not making any sense…" Tom started to retort icily.

Seven, feeling overwhelmed by the conversation and worried about the security aspects of its volume, decided at that moment to intervene, despite her unspoken agreement with Chakotay that he would handle them. "Silence!" she ordered in her most frightening of her Borg tones. Sighing heavily as all three sets of startled eyes rolled towards her, she said bluntly, "Chakotay and I are from an alternate reality."

So much for taking it slow, Chakotay thought silently as he heard Tom take a sharp intake of breath and B'Elanna uttering an incredulous, panicky laugh as she turned to face him. "Is this true Chakotay?"

Chakotay gave her a weakly sympathetic smile, "Yes, I'm afraid it is B'Elanna. There was some sort of accident on the starship Seven and I live on and then we woke up here, in different lives."

B'Elanna's breath began to leave her in short, panicked bursts, "But…but you _know_ me, I know you do, and Seska and Paris too… How would that be possible if you weren't…_you_?"

Chakotay squeezed her shoulder gently. "I _do_ know you B'Elanna, it's just that our lives are a little different that's all… You don't need to be afraid of us okay? Trust me."

B'Elanna held his gaze for several uncertain seconds before nodding shakily, then pulling back from his grip as Tom asked quietly, "If you two are here, then what happened to our versions of you?"

Chakotay bit his lip and stared momentarily down at the floor; he'd asked himself that question repeatedly and had never found a satisfactory answer. "They could be on Voyager, that's our ship, but I don't know…" He cast Seven a questioning glance and she obligingly elaborated.

"Yes, a simple switch would be the best case scenario…" She confirmed, "…but it's equally possible that this phenomenon has affected many realities." As she saw them all pale she allowed herself to backtrack slightly, "Of course there is no way to be certain, at this moment in time anyway."

Tom shrugged, "Well, there doesn't seem to be much you can do, maybe you should just wait for your fancy ship's crew to come up with something, since it was an accident in your reality which caused all this."

Seven shook her head, "We cannot just "wait it out" to use your phrase." She stated with regretful firmness.

"Why not Seven? I mean jail isn't exactly pleasant but there doesn't seem to be a way out of here." Chakotay said as calmly as he could considering Seven's suddenly cagey demeanour.

"Because…" Seven's voice failed her and she had to gulp hard. "Your extradition to Cardassia has been approved; they are coming to collect you in 48 hours. There is only one verdict in the Carrdassia penal system Commander; even if Voyager could find us it may be too late to…to…" Her voice caught painfully on the sudden lump of tears in her throat as the Collective's memories of Cardassian executions flooded her brain.

"To prevent my…" Chakotay caught the wide eyes of Tom and B'Elanna, "…_our _executions." He finished for her, sighing sadly as he saw her averted eyes fill with tears of confirmation. In one big stride he was at her side and grasped her shoulders tightly. "Listen Seven, I want you to get out of here and just lie low for as long as you can until Voyager can hopefully get you back…"

Seven snapped her head up, her eyes burning with hot emotion. "I won't just _leave_ you here Commander…"

"It's too dangerous, you could end up killed or in jail with me if you tried anything…"

"Irrelevant!" Seven retorted angrily.

"It's my order Seven of Nine." He told her coolly as she jerked free of his arms, glaring at him resentfully.

B'Elanna's voice, unusually quiet and considered, pierced through the thick blanket of tension between them, "Wait Chakotay, I think I might have a plan."

* * *

Janeway leaned back in her chair, scanning the apprehensive faces of her crew around the table as they absorbed the surreal situation they now found themselves in. She paid particular attention to the newcomers, sitting side by side to her left and surrounded by PADDS of information about their alternates' lives here, apparently so different from their own. With a sigh she brought herself forward again, erect and commanding, "The situation is clear to us all now I presume?" They all nodded, though she could see Annika's knuckles turning white as she gripped the arms of her chair and Chakotay's face growing more withdrawn and unreadable by the second. "Then we now must come up with a solution, Icheb?"

Sitting directly to her right, Icheb cleared his throat and released a shaky breath, "As I mentioned there is no guarantee that the Commander and Seven are in Dr Hansen's and Mr Chakotay's reality but after our analysis of the anomaly we believe we can recreate the circumstances which brought them here, although it will put considerable stress on Voyager's structural integrity…"

"Which I believe we can compensate for Captain." B'Elanna intervened when she saw the Captain's brow furrow.

"That's good B'Elanna, I have confidence in you but our priority has to be safety okay?" Janeway said quietly in response.

"But what about getting _our _Seven and Chakotay back here?" Harry asked anxiously.

Icheb sighed heavily. "That may prove to be an even more difficult task. I believe I can create a scan to pick up their unique…"

"Quantum signals?" Annika asked suddenly, getting surprised looks from everyone. "According to the theory of infinite realities, they're the only truly unique thing about anything."

Icheb nodded. "Precisely, but tracing theirs and pulling them back will not be easy."

"Nothing ever is Icheb, but we can't leave them behind." The Captain said resolutely, earning smiles from her crew. "Now all of you return to your posts so we can get started."

"Yes Captain!"

* * *

Chakotay stepped into through the large doors, his eyes taking a few seconds to adjust but he soon had a full view of the Cargo Bay the Computer had directed him to. Soon he saw who he was looking for, sitting on an overturned crate, staring into space. "Hey." He said by way of greeting.

Annika jumped violently her gaze moving from the wall she'd been staring at for the last hour as she struggled to take this all in. It actually hurt her head to look at anything else, the cybernetics in "her" eye made everything so acute it was like looking through a microscope, she didn't want to think about what had happened to her real human eye anymore than she wanted to think about why this version of her apparently lived in a cargo bay… Slowly she twisted her head around to see Chakotay standing behind her, "Hi." She mumbled awkwardly.

He sighed as he looked around. "A lot to take in isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure is." She replied quietly intending to say nothing more but she found herself continuing, "To think that only a twist a fate kept me from spending eighteen years of my life as a drone. My parents are drones here you know, she doesn't even remember them! And my sister, she was never even _born _here…" She trailed off as she caught his sympathetic eyes, finding herself blushing. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

Chakotay ran a tired hand through his hair, shooting her a sheepish smile, "Remind me what that was again?"

"I called you a Maquis convict and I have no right to judge, I mean, I'm practically a murderer here…"

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter, I was in jail after all, whether justly or not." She nodded silently and on impulse he came closer. "Listen don't judge your other self too harshly, she can't be a bad person if all these people are working to get her back." He sighed as she gave him a small grateful smile, "I for one am taking a good hard look at myself, I don't think I would've able to work with Starfleet as well as he has…"

"You would've." Annika replied confidently, almost without thinking, feeling herself blush again as he peered at her questioningly.

"What makes you say that?"

Annika smiled sheepishly, "Well, here you are helping me when we've only known each other for four hours. I think you would've done whatever was best for your crew."

Chakotay couldn't help but feel touched at her sincere words. "Thanks." He murmured almost in a whisper before making a more confident suggestion, "How about we go and help them get us home?"

Annika smiled warmly at him as she stood up, not allowing herself another sorrowful, pitying glance around the Cargo Bay, "Sure, let's go."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

"Wait Chakotay, I think I might have a plan." B'Elanna said quietly.

Despite the promise in her words, it took Chakotay a few seconds to break eye contact with, whose intense blue eyes still glared at him with questioning resentment even as he turned tersely to the half-Klingon, "Well B'Elanna?" he prompted, his dark brows slightly raised before he glanced back at Seven, a sigh detectable in his voice as he continued, "I think we'd be willing to hear anything out, considering the situation." Seven caught his eyes narrowing at her as he said the words and cast her eyes downward, sufficiently chastised for her outburst, though more by her own Borg dominated mind than by Chakotay himself.

Tom had been watching the pair with interest, caught up in trying to read their mixed signals to each other, but he wasn't distracted enough to stop him sending a smirk in B'Elanna's direction when he heard Chakotay's words, "Not exactly a ringing vote of confidence."

B'Elanna's pondering frown deepened to one of anger, "As if you'd know!"

"Hey, even if we've not been on the best of terms throughout our acquaintance, I've still known Chakotay long enough to…" Tom shot back with that laconic teasing tone Seven had heard the Tom she knew use so often with B'Elanna, here it was without the usual layer of confident affection but she still heard Chakotay chuckle softly beside her.

"Some things don't change, whichever reality you're in." He whispered near her ear when he caught her questioning glance before clearing his throat, "You were saying B'Elanna?"

B'Elanna shot Tom a parting glare before blushingly turning back to Chakotay. "Yes, sorry…" She studied Seven again for a moment before saying in clipped tones, "You said we've got 48 hours until the Cardassians come?"

"Yes." Seven replied, frowning in irritation, that was one fact she'd didn't want to have to keep repeating, dread's icy fingers crept around her heart every time she did so, despite her efforts to disengage her emotions. "Obviously your plan must be completed before then."

"On the contrary…" B'Elanna contradicted her, "I think we should wait until they're here, until we're being transferred into their custody."

Seven's cheeks flushed in incredulous disbelief, "That would defeat the purpose of escaping! What are you…"

She stopped mid exclamation when Chakotay put a firm hand on her arm, his face intrigued, "Just hear her out Seven."

Waiting until the other woman had pursed her lips and fallen silent, B'Elanna continued, "Of course, being that you're not from here, you wouldn't know but whenever anyone is transferred into Cardassian custody they made a big show of it. The prisoners are led out into the grounds and paraded in front of the other prisoners, then the Cardassians made a fuss about leading them peacefully over to their transport, with hardly any restraints at all. I always thought it would be the best time to do anything but the prison security net is such that we'd be caught as soon as we tried to run, even with the guards overstretched by having the entire prison population outside at one time…"

"We'd need a distraction…" Tom began doubtfully.

"And a way to disarm the security net…" Chakotay added, his eyes gleaming in relief when he noted Seven's thoughtful expression, "Do you think you could use any of your Bo…" He stopped the word "Borg" from leaving his lips just in time, this Tom and B'Elanna would probably give themselves up to the Cardassians rather than trust their lives to a Borg, former or not. "…any of your…tricks to solve those problems for us Seven?

Seven's brain sifted through all that she'd observed while in the prison and quickly found its Achilles' heel. It was so obvious, why hadn't she thought of it before? "Yes." She responded decisively, twisting back towards the door, eager to start her task before anyone became suspicious of the amount of time she spent talking with three Maquis prisoners.

"Seven, aren't you going to tell us what you're going to do?" Chakotay asked uneasily.

"No." Seven replied bluntly, then gave him an apologetic look for her lack of explanation."It would be better if none of you were certain of the details, just be sure to be outside the prison _precisely_ when you're supposed to be…"

"And have a plan of which direction we're going to run in?" Tom suggested lightly, but the undercurrent in his words was deadly serious.

Seven nodded, "That would be wise." She agreed before glancing nervously at the clock, "I must go." She mumbled regretfully, more to Chakotay than to anyone else.

He smiled encouragingly at her, "Good Luck." Her head bowed painfully and he gave her upper arm a gentle squeeze, "I'll see you in two days, alright?"

"Yes Commander." She answered stoically, meeting his eyes briefly before leaving the room without another word.

B'Elanna frowned at Chakotay apprehensively, "Are you sure you can trust her Chakotay?"

Chakotay turned away from the door and looked them both straight in the eye. "I'd trust her with my life, just as I would the two of you." He was almost as surprised at the certainty in his voice as they were, when exactly _had_ he developed the ability to trust the former Borg so implicitly?

* * *

Seven heard the electronic look of the cell's door click behind her as she stepped out into the hall, scanning the area for what she dearly hoped was there. Just as she began to feel panic sink its jaws into her, her eyes finally found what she was looking for, an unmanned access panel! She practically ran to it, already lifting her left arm up in preparation before she remembered that no assimilation tubes would extend from it to accelerate her access, she'd have to do it manually. It was a strange experience for her to miss her implants, even for a millisecond, she'd always privately longed to be freed of them, and now that she was… Agitated, she pushed those thoughts aside and cleared her mind, her fingers beginning their rapid dance over the keys as she overrode the programming. Even without her implants her vast library of Borg knowledge meant she could bend any piece of assimilated technology to her will, and the Federation's was thankfully no exception, within two minutes she'd planted a virus and five layers of Borg encoding which should activate in precisely 48 hours… "Dr Hansen? Are you waiting to be shown out?"

Seven whirled around to see the young guard who'd been assigned to look after her during her visit peering at her curiously. "Yes… I've completed my investigations, thank you." She replied, trying not to sound flustered as she mentally breathed a sigh of relief that she'd completed her task just a moment before he'd appeared, leaving no discernible trace behind.

"Great, I'll show you out." He indicated the space in front of him and she obediently fell into step beside him as he led her towards the exit. "You know that those inmates you were talking to are going to be extradited to Cardassia the day after tomorrow, don't you ma'am?" he asked her politely as they walked.

Seven fought her body's immediate instinct to tense up, "Yes, I am aware of their circumstances."

The guard nodded. "Well, the prison governor wants you to know that you're welcome to come that day to see if you can convince the Cardassians to back your research."

"Really?" Seven gasped, and although she had the sinking feeling Chakotay wouldn't approve of the risk, said, "I think I will attend, thank you."

**A/n: I'm sorry this chapter is so short and rubbish, I'm a bit out of practice with this story, but please review! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

"Have you found anything yet?" Janeway asked as she walked into Astrometrics.

Annika noticed Icheb's hands clench around the edge of the console and heard the smallest of agitated sighs leave his lips, but when he diffidently turned to the Captain the traces of inner turmoil she'd seen were gone. "Nothing we have discerned as irrelevant so far Captain." He replied stoically.

Janeway gave Icheb's arm a quick supportive pat. "That's okay Icheb; you did warn me this was going to be difficult. I've got a meeting in Engineering with B'Elanna to discuss all this, would you like to come?"

Icheb nodded gratefully, "If I may Captain."

Janeway gave a satisfied nod and shot Annika and Chakotay, who was also in Astrometrics after finding himself at a loose end, a hopeful glance, "You two are welcome to come along too of course…"

Annika interrupted her, "I think it would be better if I stayed here, I may not be able to completely understand this system, but I think I'll know if something helpful comes along."

The Captain nodded her consent and turned to Chakotay, who shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, "I think I'll stay here and help Annika hold down the fort."

Janeway's lips pursed slightly, "Okay." She responded awkwardly before turning back towards the door, saying to Icheb as she left, "I'll see you in Engineering in ten minutes Icheb."

"Of course Captain." Icheb replied as he walked to the other side of Astrometrics to read more detailed scans on a wall console.

Chakotay caught Annika's heavy sigh as she leaned over the console, obviously using it for support. "Something wrong?" he asked carefully.

Annika shook her head. "Just a headache." She responded shortly before remembering her manners and smiling at his considerate face. "It's just…every time I go to one of the crisis meetings, or even when a member of this crew looks at me sometimes, I get the feeling they expect me to pull some fantastic solution out of thin air."

Chakotay gave a knowing, sympathetic chuckle. "I know what you mean, people keep coming to me for advice, they even want me to do duty rosters, apparently my other self has always done them…"

"Well, it seems we both have reputations to keep up, so I'd better come up with some…" Annika's voice abruptly halted midsentence, her complexion draining of all colour as her knees suddenly buckled. She was only stopped from falling by Chakotay's strong arms closing around her waist, holding her up as the dizzy spell passed. "What…what happened?" She asked weakly, swallowing back nausea as she leaned on Chakotay's shoulder to help her stand upright again.

"You practically passed out!" Chakotay exclaimed worriedly, "Come on, I'll help you get to Sickbay."

* * *

The Doctor lowered his tricorder, an apprehensive frown on his face. "Your electrolyte levels are dangerously low…"

"What does that mean?" Annika asked blankly, not used to have any health problems.

The Doctor sighed, looking at her directly with serious, sympathetic eyes, "It means that you'll have to regenerate."

Annika stared at him, flinching as if she'd been slapped. "Re…Regenerate?" she echoed fearfully before her tone changed into one of disgust and horror, "You want me to be…plugged into one of those machines like a drone?"

The Doctor squeezed her shoulder. "Unfortunately, yes. Without regular regeneration cycles the implants that support your body malfunction and even stop working, which is life threatening. I'm sorry, I've never let Seven go longer than 48 hours without regenerating, I thought she'd be back by now but now it's been over four days, I can't let you leave it any longer…"

Annika gulped, but the persistent echoing of the words "life threatening" in her head forced her to put on a brave face. "I understand Doctor. I'll do it if I must."

She caught Chakotay's frown out of the corner of her eye, his voice concerned, "Do you want me to come with you Annika?"

Annika shook her head vigorously, she couldn't tolerate him seeing her in so unnatural a state, it was humiliating enough, but she smiled at his kindness. "No. Thank you Chakotay, but…"

Icheb, who'd rushed to Sickbay with them when she'd taken ill, his meeting in Engineering forgotten, bluntly cut her off, "I will assist her Doctor."

The Doctor glanced between them both, seeing, as Annika did, Icheb's implacable expression. "I can't think of anyone better." He admitted when Annika nodded slowly at the teenager.

"If you'll follow me Dr Hansen." Icheb said politely.

"Of course." Annika replied quietly as she slid off the biobed, giving Chakotay a final grateful look as she left.

* * *

As Icheb finally stopped explaining how the alcove worked and fell silent, Annika still couldn't help eyeing the hulking object of terror with revulsion as she asked quietly, "But what does it feel like to regenerate?"

Icheb blinked, thrown off by the unexpected question he didn't know how to answer, but looking at Annika's frightened face, even seeing fear on Seven's face at all made him feel uneasy though he was fully aware it wasn't her, made him try his best to answer her. "It isn't painful." He assured her, sighing when he realised that wasn't entirely what she'd wanted. "I believe it is relatively similar to REM sleep."

"You believe?" Annika echoed.

"I wouldn't know for sure…" He admitted, "Borg do not sleep."

Annika gaped at him. "You mean neither you nor Seven sleep at all?" she asked in disbelief.

"Why would we? Regeneration is much more efficient." He replied with straightforward bluntness, regretting it almost immediately when he saw her expression become even more disconcerted. "I apologise Dr Hansen." He mumbled unhappily.

"No, it's okay." Annika replied quickly, feeling guilty when she saw his miserable face. "You and Seven are close, aren't you?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes, she saved me." Icheb replied.

"Saved you?" she pressed, curious as to what he meant.

"From the Borg." He answered, stating the obvious.

Annika blushed. "Yes, of course she did…" She swallowed and peered into his face. "Are your parents still Borg?"

"They were never Borg." She could tell there was something he wasn't elaborating on but didn't push him as he took a deep breath, "My parents were not particularly competent at caring for me, I am lucky to have Seven, she is a vast improvement on them."

Annika felt a poignant realisation strike her, was her alternate self the only mother figure this boy had? No wonder he was working so hard to get her back. Slowly she reached out and gave his hand; the one unscarred by Borg technology and squeezed it. "Don't worry; I intend to trade places with her again, you'll have her back soon."

Icheb met her eyes for a moment. "I hope so." He stopped, recollecting his emotions, "You are supposed to be regenerating."

Annika smiled weakly despite her fear, amused by his mannerisms. "Okay, I suppose you're right." With slow, faltering steps she entered the alcove, waiting with a dread filled heart until, finally, the cycle began and her mind gave into the emptiness.

* * *

Chakotay moved off the bed again, sleep still eluding him in these quarters which were unknown and yet familiar, filled both with objects he recognised and with things completely alien to him. He wondered again if he should read Commander Chakotay's logs, but dismissed the idea as he always had throughout the past few days as intrusive and unnecessary. With a sigh he asked the Computer, "Computer, where's Annika…I mean Seven of Nine?" Not for the first time, he wondered what had made Annika's alternate give up a name for what was practically a barcode.

"Seven of Nine is in Cargo Bay 2." The Computer answered in that female voice he had a feeling was ubiquitous in all realities.

He remembered she was supposed to be regenerating and an unease stabbed at him, without thinking he got dressed and headed for the Cargo Bay. Perhaps it was unwise to visit her, but over the course of this ordeal he liked to think that they'd become friends, it wasn't as if anyone else was sharing this experience, confidants were limited, and this situation got more difficult to cope with every extra minute they stayed here…

He walked into the darkened Cargo Bay 2, at once seeing that she was still regenerating and turning round to leave her be, but a panicked, grief stricken whimper stopped him in his tracks and he looked at her again. Annika's hands were curled into tense fists, a deep frown set in her face as tears were squeezed out from beneath the lids, he could even hear whimpering sobs continually leaving her unconscious throat. He winced in sympathy, surely regeneration shouldn't cause that, maybe he should call the Doctor…

Almost at the precise moment that thought passed through his brain, the alcove sparked as if a firework had been lit inside it and Annika fell to the floor, her eyes immediately shooting open as a paralysing scream was ripped from her, followed by a torrent of violent sobs as she forced herself up onto her knees, shaking harder than anyone Chakotay had ever seen. "Annika! Annika, what's wrong?" he asked in a panicked shout as he knelt down beside her. Her wild blue eyes met his for a second, but pain immediately crossed her face like a lightning bolt and she grasped her head with a raspy groan before collapsing to the floor, her implants surging sinisterly with electric shocks.

**A/n: I was going to write the break out scene today, but this idea occurred to me and I couldn't stop myself from writing it first! PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

The bed creaked as Seven sat down on the edge of it, a frown set deep in her face as she studied the contents of the bag she was taking with her to the jail. Did she have all that they would require? She smirked wryly at her own thought; there was no way to know what three fugitives might need! Still she went though the items in her brain, fretting until she realised that if she didn't leave now she'd be too late to be of any help at all. Another unsettling thought occurred to her, would Chakotay even accept her help when she was disobeying his orders to such a degree? She heard his words echoing again in her ear, "Lay low, we'll find you." Irritated, she shook off her reservations and headed out of the hotel room, their plan had a much greater chance of succeeding if she was involved.

* * *

Chakotay's even pace slowed as he reached the prison's doorway and felt the cool breeze caress his face, he had never been so glad to get out of a place in his life! Automatically he tried to lift his hand to shield his eyes from the light, but reality hit him as they remained constrained behind his back, a pair of electro-magnetic hands cuffs doing their job, he wasn't quite free yet! "Move Kotay!" The guard's obnoxious shout rang in his ears and he moved forward blindly into the dazzling light, flinching and instinctively drawing back as his eyes made out the sickeningly familiar gnarled faces of a group of Cardassians, triumphantly standing in wait for their last prisoner to be brought out before them. Every muscle in his body tensed with hate fuelled adrenaline, but as he was brought into line with Tom and B'Elanna and caught their colluding looks, Tom even winking at him, he forced himself to calm down, he had to think rationally if this was going to work.

The smartly dressed human man he assumed was the head of the prison stepped forward, his voice booming over the prison yard, "Today we are once again reinforcing our bond of justice with the Cardassian government and I'd like to thank…" Chakotay's attention was pulled away from the sound of droning voice by Tom's suddenly erratic expressions, gesturing frantically over at the stands were a smattering of dignitaries stood watching the proceeds. Warily he followed the direction of the gestures with his eyes, his mouth dropping open in shock and horror when he saw Seven's face in the crowd. What the hell is she doing here? Does she want to be arrested if this fails? He mentally railed. As if she could hear his thoughts, she turned her head, flushing as she registered his angry glare. Quickly he broke their eye contact and looked around, trying to recollect himself, his well thought out plan completely gone from his mind.

A dry, raspy voice which made a shudder go up his back stopped his thoughts in their tracks. "If we can forgo the ceremony this time Governor, we're rather desperate to get these three back to Cardassia." Chakotay met the piercing eyes of the speaker, obviously the leader of the Cardassians, whose skin as grey as dead ash, and his manner as slick as the oily sheen of his black eyes.

"You want to leave early?" The Governor of the prison's disapproval was etched in his tone, "You know the diplomatic protocol for these things as well as I do Gul Sekan…"

Gul Sekan's lips twitched, "And I'm sure you're aware of how much my government would appreciate this favour. We're leaving with them, _now_."

The Governor paused for a moment, his mouth pursed in thought, "Of course we do Gul. Go ahead."

"Good." Sekan replied. It was only when the Cardassian inclined his head in silent command and a Cardassian guard grabbed him from behind and began leading him towards awaiting vehicles that Chakotay fully realised what was happening, they were being taken away before Seven's "distraction" kicked in! Desperately he struggled, only getting a kick in the shins for his trouble at first but he succeeding in slowing everything down a little as they subdued him. Despite all this though, within a matter of minutes he was on the threshold of the large shuttle's open doors and could hear Sekan's smooth voice in his ear, "Time to face your crimes Maquis…" He stopped mid sentence as an explosion rocked the nearest building and brought chaos down on the scene. Before he could process what was happening he saw Tom and B'Elanna making a run for it and heard the click of his handcuffs deactivating as he kicked out at Sekan and ran for his life.

* * *

"Is she alright? What happened to her?" Chakotay yelled at the Doctor in frustration as a particularly strong charge from a neural receiver finally did its job and the sound of a regular heartbeat pulsed from Annika's monitors. Hearing the Doctor exhale in relief, he felt his own body sag before saying in an accusatory snarl, "You told her that regenerating was _safe_!"

Janeway, also standing worriedly by Annika's biobed, stared at him in shock, "Chakotay, please…" She began but he cut her off.

"Don't try and cover up your lie! I never should have trusted you!" He glanced painfully at the unconscious Annika, "_Neither_ of us should have..."

The Doctor left Annika's side and held his shoulders. "We didn't lie, something happened in the alcove that we…I didn't foresee." His voice was thick with regret and worry.

"Like what?" Chakotay muttered, his demeanour softened slightly by the guilt he could hear in the hologram's voice.

The Doctor sighed, "There is a little known device in a Borg alcove, a back up cortical processor, it stores memories from a drone's cortical node in case of some catastrophic failure, and it seems to have been activated."

The Captain gulped in realisation, "Are you saying it put some of Seven's memories into Annika's mind while she was regenerating?"

The Doctor nodded, "Exactly, but unfortunately only her memories of the Collective, and not even many of those because her brain…overloaded." The Doctor's eyes shifted and Chakotay couldn't suppress the feeling he was holding something back from them.

"God, no wonder she was crying…" He mumbled, remembering seeing her trapped and frightened in the alcove, unable to help her escape from her nightmare.

"Wake her up and I'll talk to her." The Captain said urgently, "She'll be very upset if she saw a fraction of things Seven lived through…"

"I'm afraid I can't do that just now Captain, in fact I need you all to leave." The Doctor told her stonily.

The Captain's eyes narrowed in disbelief, "Doctor I really think…"

The Doctor however wasn't to be moved. "I outrank even you in medical matters Captain. Now all of you please leave."

"Fine Doctor." The Captain replied coldly, turning sharply on her heel to leave with Icheb and Chakotay reluctantly following her.

As soon as they were gone the Doctor went to his office and threw a tricorder against the console in frustration, for a moment passionately hating Seven for putting herself, him and her alternate self in this situation, if only he'd ignored Seven's protests and removed that forever to be damned emotional suppressor from her cortical node when he'd had the chance!

**A/n: I hope this chapter isn't too much of a letdown, I don't have time tonight to make it as long as I would've liked and so I'm not very happy with it but PLEASE REVIEW anyway! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

The now defunct handcuffs rattled around Chakotay's wrists as he ran, crouching low and trying to ignore the shouts of the Cardassians and the prison guards as they tried to figure out what had happened and extinguish the burning building which was continually throwing toxic smoke up into the sky. Chakotay didn't dare to pause even for a second as her plunged through the smoke and out the other side, where he saw Tom and B'Elanna running up a steep hill which the prison's perimeter fence, now sparking with an interrupted electrical current but otherwise inactive, backed onto. Without thinking of the consequences of electrical shock, he followed them, his frantic feet tearing gouges out of the hillside as he saw Tom and B'Elanna disappear into the forest above. Forcing his screaming muscles to give him one final spurt of energy he reached the top of the hill, only to see B'Elanna, her face wracked with pain, being pulled up from the ground by Tom. "What happened?" Chakotay asked breathlessly, glancing behind him to see if they were being followed, but the prison seemed to be in absolute uproar.

B'Elanna gestured angrily at the gnarled root that was wrapped around her ankle, "I tripped…my ankle…"

"We'll carry you, we have to keep going or else they'll catch up to us." Chakotay told her.

"I was trying to get her to lean on me but she…" Tom began to explain in a frustrated tone as he gently extricated her foot from the root, "I think it's just a sprain."

"And how would you know?" B'Elanna asked scathingly as she pulled herself up by a tree branch rather than by Tom's proffered arm.

A stoic, if slightly breathless voice answered her, "He knows because he is a trained medic, which is of course only if he and the Tom Paris I know are the same in that regard."

Tom smiled at Seven, who had appeared from nowhere looking slightly the worse for wear, before shooting B'Elanna a look, "She's right, I know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, right." B'Elanna muttered under her breath as she watched Seven reach into the large bag she had with her and throw three small devices at them, which matched the one pinned to her top. B'Elanna agilely caught hers and studied it in confusion, "What are these?"

"Scanner frequency blockers, we won't show up on their scans." Seven replied.

"Aren't those illegal? Were did you get them?" Tom asked incredulously.

"I built them." Seven answered simply with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. "And this whole exercise is illegal."

"You _built_ these? How…" B'Elanna began; staring at the other woman is disbelief.

"Enough!" Chakotay cut in with icy sharpness, "We have to get moving!"

Seven frowned at his uncharacteristic outburst and tried to reason with him. "It will be some time before they can trace us Commander, besides my devices you took the most inaccessible escape route behind a burning building, we have time. I have a change of clothes for each of you, and I can remove your restraints…"

Chakotay glared at her, ignoring the bag of provisions at her feet. Under normal circumstances he would have praised her preparedness but at that moment he was far too angry to even consider speaking directly to her, instead addressing them all. "We'll make time for that later when we're nearer civilisation, for now we have to go." He ordered in an unequivocal tone. Turning his back on them, he set off at a brisk sprint, despite his anger feeling relief surge through him when they fell into step behind him.

* * *

After more than an hour of walking in silence, during which they'd managed to put the prison far behind them, Seven took a deep, fortifying breath and went to Chakotay's side, asking quietly, "Where exactly are we going Commander? Tom says B'Elanna's ankle is swelling up and that we'll soon need to stop to attend to her…"

Chakotay abruptly whirled round to face her, his expression thunderous. "Didn't you plan that out while you were on the way here? Or did you think the probability of us getting out was too low to even consider that?" Seeing shock and confusion flash across her face, he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "What the hell were you thinking? Did you want to go to prison too? There was a _reason_ I told you to lie low! Now they're looking for all of us…"

Seven cut him off, understanding and her own anger settled on her face, "I apologise for disobeying your orders but without me you'd still be in there! Who do you think blew up the building when they were going to leave with you ahead of schedule? Who do you think planted the virus which deactivated the shields and every other piece of security in the place?"

Chakotay held his ground despite her bombardment of logic and grasped her arm tightly. "It was still too dangerous! Even if we had failed, you could have stayed here and bided your time…"

"You talk as if it's simple to conform to another person's life!" She snapped back, jerking away from his grip and running off ahead as Chakotay stopped dead, shocked by the tears he'd seen rolling down her cheeks.

"Well, I for one think you should talk to her." Tom remarked in a piece of unsolicited advice as he caught up with Chakotay, carefully supporting a limping B'Elanna.

B'Elanna nodded, surprised to find herself agreeing with Tom Paris on anything, despite an unacknowledged enjoyment of his closeness. "She did kind of save our butts Chakotay."

"No one asked you…" Chakotay muttered but then glanced at Seven walking far ahead of them and sighed deeply before leaving Tom and B'Elanna in the dust.

When he was safely out of earshot, Tom said, "So what do you think? Are they together or not?"

B'Elanna winced at his uncanny ability to read her mind and shrugged. "Who knows? The Chakotay I know always has liked blondes."

* * *

Chakotay reached out and touched Seven's arm as he finally caught up with her, unnerved by the relief mixed with fear which passed over her features as she saw him. "Look Seven, I'm sorry for what I said back there, I was out of line…"

Seven shook her head. "No, you were correct, I was reckless and this has been a very stressful situation for both of us."

He nodded, smiling wryly. "You've got that one right." He replied softly, remembering her tears and cautiously approaching what he thought might be the cause of it. "So, do you mind telling me what you've experienced since you woke up here?"

Seven flinched and ducked her head before swallowing hard, "It has been…an unnerving few days for me." She took another breath and met his now kindly, sympathetic eyes before looking intently down at her feet again, visibly bracing herself to explain, "First I woke up in bed with _her_ fiancé…" Seven didn't notice Chakotay's flinch when she said the word fiancé, "…then I found Captain Janeway, retired, married and with three children, and then I had to deal with _her _family…" She gulped as Chakotay gasped in horrified sympathy.

"You…you met your parents?" he whispered, shocked and worried for her.

Seven stiffened. "_My_ parents are Borg drones Commander, but yes, her parents and sister are here."

"Oh Seven… I'm sorry, I didn't know…" Chakotay began.

"Why would you?" She replied heavily before her gaze moved back to the land around her. "From my study of local maps I believe that if we head in a north-westerly direction for another 3.2 miles we should find a main road, does that sound feasible to you?"

"Very." He replied, reluctantly allowing their previous subject to drop. "Go and tell Tom and B'Elanna." She nodded in agreement and turned away from him, but not before he had gently grabbed her elbow. "And thanks for telling me all that, I know it must have been painful for you." She nodded once more in reply, although whether it was in acknowledgement of the pain he wasn't sure, and he let her go.

**A/n: Sorry this chapter is so rubbish and doesn't have a Voyager section, (there will be one in the next chapter, I promise!), but I've been feeling so tired for the last couple of days and so don't feel like writing much. PLEASE REVIEW anyway! :D **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/n: Thanks to both lisac1965 and Jedi Master Sman-Esay for updating their C/7 stories last night, "The Little Girl" and "Heirs of Voyager" respectively. This chapter is for the two of you.**

It was a nagging little pain on the side of her neck, it felt like a burn, which first began to pull the black veil of unconscious from Annika's mind, she fought wakefulness with everything she had but a headache pounding yet oddly sharp which tortured her so much that her eyelids had to open in search of relief. A bright light shone down on her, for a fraction of a second she was sure she was dead, but a voice, concerned and gentle, shattered that illusion, "Annika?"

She heard a sound, similar to the whimper of an injured animal, and felt confused, until she realised that it came from her own dry lips. Suddenly hit with an irrational fear, she tried to sit up but her body immediately punished her with shooting pains up her spine and she had to content herself with turning her aching head towards the voice. "Doc…Doctor?" she croaked out as her reluctant eyes gradually made out the hologram sitting at her bedside, "What happened?"

Pain and guilt burned across his face like a forest fire before it was replaced by a taciturn evasiveness as he patted her arm soothingly, "It doesn't matter. You're fine now, thank God…"

Annika felt her hackles rise, under the distinct impression that she was being pawned off. "No, I'm _not _fine. My head feels like its being ripped open and…" She drifted off, rubbing the raw patch of skin on her neck as she struggled to think back, "I went into the alcove…" She gasped, her voice cracking as the sights and sounds that had overwhelmed and tortured her flooded back in after her temporary reprieve. Voices that utterly blocked out her own thoughts until she had none, screams of withering agony, her own father's newly cybernetic eye staring down at her…

Her nails scraped on the metal sides of the biobed and she squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to force it all out but it was useless, they recurred like the images on a kaleidoscope. With her eyes still shut and her breath raspy with fear and shock she addressed the Doctor through gritted teeth, "You…You told me regenerating would be fine! It gave me nightmares, the worst I've _ever _had…" A sob caught in her throat and tears began to leak out of her human eye as she twisted round to glare at him, "I'd rather _die_ than go through that again!"

The Doctor sighed heavily, his eyes solemn. "It wasn't nightmares you experienced..." His lips twisted bitterly, "Not of the traditional sort anyway, the act of regenerating put some of Seven's memories into your mind, through her cortical node."

Annika sat up now, ignoring the pain and biting her bottom lip to stop it from shaking, "All that was…real? She…she lived through all that?"

"Yes." The Doctor answered simply, deciding there was no point in sugar-coating the truth. "Your brain was overloaded; if Chakotay hadn't found you then you almost certainly would've died…"

Annika forced herself to swallow the bile rising in her throat as her fingers lingered on the small burn. "A cortical simulator caused this didn't it? You had to resuscitate me…"

The Doctor nodded unhappily and squeezed her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her then picked up his tricorder and dermal regenerator. "Let me heal that for you."

Annika nodded dumbly and listlessly pushed her hair out of the way so he could do his job, pondering on what he'd said had happened. Anything was better than brooding over the stranger's memories that had been forced on her! "Doctor, why did that happen? I mean, Seven can't possibly need medical attention every time she regenerates and I am in her body, there are no _physical _changes…"

The Doctor shifted awkwardly, "These were special circumstances…"

Annika wasn't about to let him brush her off and stuck to her guns, "What kind of special circumstances?" she probed, lowering her tone when he remained silent. "Doctor, I want you to be as honest with me as you would be with her, it affects me too."

The Doctor studied her serious blue eyes for a moment, his voice shaking as he faced the inevitable, "Seven has a rather…cruel component incorporated into her cortical node, I didn't think of it affecting you and I'm sorry." Seeing her face crease in fretful curiosity, he decided to be blunt. "It suppresses emotion, deactivates, to use the Borg terminology, a drone if they reach a certain level of…emotional stimulation."

Annika stared at him blankly, unwilling to comprehend what he was saying. "I don't understand… I've had some of my most emotional, frankly distressing, few days of my life here, why didn't it…" She choked in disgust, "…_kill_ me before?"

The Doctor leaned on the console, avoiding her eyes. "It only targets certain types of emotion, extreme grief and fear, which I presume was what you experienced while in the alcove, romantic feelings…"

"Ro…Romantic?" Annika echoed brokenly, "You mean she can't even…" When the Doctor nodded she felt pity overwhelm her as it never had before in over twenty eight years of life, as well as burning hatred for the Borg and surprisingly violent anger at her parents for being so fascinated with them, even in her reality where they hadn't risked their family. "Is there any way you could remove it?"

The Doctor's fists clenched in self doubt as he admitted, "Yes."

"Well then, get on with it!" Annika exclaimed impatiently.

"I can't…" The Doctor whispered, "Seven forbade it."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. Her voice was shrill with disbelief when she could finally speak, "She _forbade_ it? Why?" His head dropped and realisation hit her, "She…she doesn't want to be free of the Borg does she? She…she doesn't want to be human!"

"You're judging her too harshly; your lives have turned out so differently…" The Doctor began defensively.

"If she's too scared, too indoctrinated, then _I'll_ give you permission!" Annika snapped harshly.

The Doctor sighed heavily, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere but there. "I can't do that, it's unethical…"

Annika snorted derisively, "She'll thank me in the long run!"

The Doctor, although saddened by the whole situation, stood his ground. "It's her choice, not yours."

Annika felt her body begin to shake with sobs of rage and fear, jumping off the biobed and standing at her full height, glowering tearfully at him, "Well if after four years here she still doesn't want to be human then you may as well cut your losses and send her back to her beloved Borg!" she shouted through sobs, fleeing from Sickbay before the Doctor could do anything to stop her.

**A/n: I'm sorry it's so short but I've had bad writer's block for this story and I'm just trying to get back into it, I hope its okay. PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/n: This chapter is for LM2MM, I hope you enjoy your holiday and this chapter! Thanks to Teal06 and xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for updating their C/7 fics yesterday, "The Next Step" and "The Borg with Butterfly Wings" respectively. Read these fics, they're a lot better than mine. :D**

Annika ran out of Sickbay, her eyes so blurred with frustrated tears that she crashed into someone coming the other way down the corridor. Blood rushed to her face in embarrassment as she jerked away from the person, managing to choke out, "I'm sorry, I…"

Strong hands grasped her shoulders and held her where she was, "No it's my fault, don't worry about it."

Annika's head jerked up involuntarily to look at her collision victim, Chakotay, his eyes warm with gentle concern as he looked down at her flushed, and still tear stained, face. As soon as she met his gaze a sharp pain surged through her brain accompanied by a memory, both sensual and emotional. She was standing in what looked like a set of Voyager's quarters, watching Chakotay make a rather clumsy attempt at chopping vegetables. She felt both happy and nervous as she watched him, her cybernetic hand shaking slightly against the skirt of a short red dress. She said something, the words sounded fuzzy, but his laugh was as clear as a bell. He came closer to her, until their faces were only an inch or so apart, then he kissed her deeply and she responded passionately, all nerves gone…

Annika couldn't help but gasp as what she assumed was a memory released her, and found her unable to look at Chakotay even as she sensed him peering at her in concern. What in the world had _that_ been? Had she inherited some of her alternate's daydreams too? Yet it had seemed so real… "Are you alright Annika?" Captain Janeway, who she only just then noticed was standing next to Chakotay, asked with an expression of concern on her face that somehow reminded Annika of her mother back home.

She ran as discreet a hand as possible over her damp, flustered face. "Yes Captain, I was just in a rush to catch up on lost time with finding a way home, that's all."

The Captain's pursed lips told her that she didn't believe her, but Janeway still made an effort to pretend that she did, "Of course you are, I of all people understand that, but try to keep your enthusiasm contained while you're in the corridors, okay?" she replied lightly.

"Good idea." Annika agreed quickly, moving past them to flee to her quarters. "Thanks for catching me Chakotay." She said gratefully, blushing out of his line of sight when the feel of his kiss returned momentarily to her lips.

"No problem." Chakotay assured her pleasantly, watching her disappear down the hallway before turning quickly to the Captain, "Can you just speak to the Doctor yourself Captain? There's something I have to do."

Janeway couldn't stop her eyebrow from rising slightly, a few minutes before he'd practically begged to come with her to Sickbay to check on Annika's condition."Yes, of course you can, we'll have another briefing later and see where we stand with your predicament, okay?"

"That's fine, thanks Captain." Chakotay replied distractedly before hurriedly turning around back in the direction they'd come.

Janeway shook her head a little in bemusement before walking into Sickbay, where the Doctor paced anxiously, practically wringing his hands. "What just happened with her in here, is she alright?" she asked, her voice tight with impatience and anxiety.

The Doctor abruptly stopped pacing and looked at her seriously, his eyes pinched with stress and worry. "Let's just say Annika and Seven share more personality traits than I thought." He told her with a tired sigh.

"As in…" The Captain queried uneasily.

"Stubborn bullheadedness, not listening… She's as intense by nature as Seven is."

The Captain gave a small laugh at that and shrugged, "We always knew she didn't get it _all _from the Borg."

* * *

Annika stared up at the ceiling of the barren quarters she'd been given, trying to sleep but failing miserably, whenever her eyes closed tears of fear and confusion slipped under her eyelids and nipped her skin. It was all so wrong! She and this _drone_ had nothing in common, it was as if Annika Hansen had been erased here, replaced by a Borg called Seven of Nine, and all with her complicity…

The beep of doorbell pulled her out of these thoughts and into a sitting position at the edge of the bed. "Yes?" she called tersely through the closed door.

"It's Chakotay. Can I come in?"

Annika couldn't stop the breath catching nervously in her throat as she answered, "Yes…" She mumbled, then remembered herself and called louder, "Enter!"

He stepped inside, a slightly sheepish smile on his face. "How's it going? Have you made any headway with getting us back?"

She managed to hold back a sigh of relief that he was here on a professional basis of sorts, although she was uncomfortably aware of the disappointment which preceded it. "No, not really…" she admitted guiltily.

"Your mind been on other things?" he asked in understanding, leaning heavily against the wall.

"That's an understatement."

"That was an awful shock to find you so ill, it would've been a hundred times worse for you." He commented after a minute or two of silence. She could tell from the pain that ran over his face that he was being sincere and felt grateful for it.

"Yes, it was." She replied quietly, her gaze dropping away from his face as she tried to explain how she felt, "It's not the things I…she saw as such, I know the Borg and know what horrible things they are capable of, it's the fact that I don't really exist here in anything other than body, she's fought with every inch of her being not to become like me, to stay Borg, even after what they did to her…" Her voice cracked and she had to gulp hard, only now allowing herself to look into his dark eyes. "It's horrible to know but for a twist of fate I would've rejected my humanity…"

Chakotay studied her for a moment before breathing a thoughtful sigh, "There's a difference between wilfully rejecting something and not being able to cope, or at least still learning to cope."

Annika frowned at him, not understanding, "What do you mean?"

Chakotay chuckled slightly, "What I'm saying is that, after getting to know you a little, and hearing about Seven from the crew, I think that if she _really _wanted to return to the Borg she would've found some way to do it. Even if you don't like to think about her Borg mindset, what she'd think of you, at least give her the benefit of the doubt that she wants to become human, gradually."

"Gradually…" Annika mumbled thoughtfully under her breath, guilt suddenly overwhelming her as she thought back to what she'd experienced in the alcove. If she'd lived through that, she wasn't sure she wouldn't want something to dull the emotional pain of it all… She smiled shyly at Chakotay as she saw him gauging her reaction to his words, "No wonder your other self is the ship's counsellor, you have a knack for it."

He flushed awkwardly at her praise, "Thanks." He murmured seriously before throwing a joke in to lighten the mood, "I guess we both had plenty of time to think things over during those long Maquis stakeouts."

Annika laughed, relieved to feel pleasure, no matter how momentary. "I don't doubt it!"

He laughed too and turned back towards the door, "I'll leave you to your work. Janeway says there'll be another briefing in a couple of hours."

"Again?" she asked in disbelief.

He smirked as he walked out the door, "That's Starfleet for you, they love to hear their own voices."

"See you then." She said warmly, catching a glimpse of his dimpled smile as the doors closed and heaving a deep sigh. At least Seven has good taste in men… She admitted silently, smiling to herself until she caught a glance of her hands, bare of engagement ring, and felt guilt surge through her, along with the knowledge that this was the first time she'd thought of Traxim in days… Irritated by her own thoughts, she headed back to the computer console and returned to work on finding her way out of this mess.

**A/n: Certainly not my best chapter but PLEASE REVIEW anyway! :D**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/n: A big thank you to Teal06 for encouraging me through the writer's block I've been suffering with this story. I hope you like the chapter! :D**

"How…how much further?" B'Elanna choked out as her injured ankle caught on the rough terrain of the roadside despite Tom's surprisingly tender ministrations in helping her along.

Chakotay turned back from where he was walking a metre or so head with Seven by his side, his frown deepening in sympathetic concern when he saw the thin gloss of sweat on B'Elanna's face and pain vividly emanating from her brown eyes. "I'm not sure." He said honestly, throwing Seven an urgent glance, "Where's the nearest town Seven?"

Seven lifted her head up from the map she was holding and methodically scanned their surroundings, "The town of Cook's Cove is 2.6 miles from here, but it lies on the direct route from the prison so it would not be wise to stop there."

Tom stiffened as he felt B'Elanna nod her agreement, she was by now so exhausted that her head rested on his shoulder, and an inexplicable wave of protectiveness washed over him. "B'Elanna will be lucky to make that, we don't have a choice in the matter!" He himself was surprised by steely determination in his voice but Chakotay and Seven seemed far from shocked by it, he thought he even saw relief flash across both their faces, although they remained silent, causing him to sigh in exasperation, "Do either of you have a long term plan or does it only extend to walking ourselves to death?" He asked caustically.

"We haven't exactly faced this situation before Lieutenant." Seven replied icily.

"I know that but…" Tom began to retort hotly before Chakotay skilfully intervened.

"Let's stick to the most immediate problems first." He told them in a calm but commanding voice, "Do we have any ideas about how we can help B'Elanna and get somewhere to stay the night?"

Seven got his point and stared pensively up at the sun as it dipped in the sky, preparing to set. "I can think of nothing feasible at the moment Commander." She admitted unhappily.

Tom pondered the issue for a second, his eyes falling on Seven's bag before travelling back up to her face. "Do you have access to gold plated latinum?"

Seven hastily reached into the bag and pulled out a purse, her searching hands eventually discovering a bank card. "I believe so, why?"

B'Elanna breathed a heavy, pain tinged laugh. "What are you doing to do Tom, set us up with one of your Ferengi pals? We all know how that worked out last time!" She smiled wryly when she saw the clueless expressions on Chakotay and Seven's features, "Correction, _I_ know how that worked out last time."

Tom chuckled, "Then you know as well as I do that it isn't only Ferengi that'll do anything for the right price."

* * *

"Do I look acceptable?" Seven asked tightly as the four of them stood on a narrow alley in Cook's Cove around an hour later.

"Believable you mean? As the kind of woman who'd withdraw her life savings in one go?" Tom muttered, "You look a bit worse for wear to be honest."

Chakotay saw Seven glance sheepishly down at her torn, dirty clothes and bruised skin. "We all do Tom." He reminded him sharply.

Seven raised a questioning eyebrow at her defender as she hastily pulled her hair back in a ponytail and arranged her top to cover the minor cuts and abrasions on her arms. "I am accustomed to people being shocked by my appearance, I will adapt."

The confusion Tom felt at that odd comment deepened when he saw pain flicker across Chakotay face as he gave Seven's shoulder a supportive squeeze, "Just act natural." He advised softly.

Seven's smile in return was weak as the thought flashed through her mind that she'd been trying to act naturally human for four years without success, but it didn't feel right to remind Chakotay of that now, with his brown eyes so strained with worry. "I will try my best Chakotay." She replied quietly, turning on her heel without another word and walking directly into the bank across the street. Most of it was automated, as was to be expected, but Chakotay had advised her that for such a large withdrawal she'd need to go to the teller. Decisively she walked to the desk of the only visible staff member, a prim looking woman in her fifties, and all the while trying not to flinch every time a security camera swivelled her way. "I'd like to make a withdrawal of gold plated Latium." She stated coolly, passing her alternate's id and bank cards to the woman, who checked them swiftly by computer.

"Your latinum balance is at 506 bars and 9 slips at the moment Dr Hansen. How much would you like to take out today?"

Seven paused only momentarily, hoping her alternate would understand the desperate nature of her situation. "All of it."

"All of it?" The woman echoed incredulously, "Planning on a holiday spending spree while you're here in New Zealand Dr Hansen?"

"Perhaps." Seven replied tightly, "Please fulfil my request."

"Of course." The woman agreed shakily, unsettled by her brittle tone and immediately rising to do as she was asked.

* * *

A few minutes later Seven returned to the alley where she'd left her companions, laden down with a bag filled to the brim with latinum, only to see that Tom was no longer there with Chakotay as he helped an increasingly weak B'Elanna. "Did you get it?" he asked heavily.

"Yes Commander. Where is Lieutenant Paris?" Seven asked anxiously.

Chakotay jerked a thumb indicating the dingy bar directly behind him, "He seemed to think we could get rooms in there without anyone asking any questions."

Seven's nose wrinkled in disgust, but she said as evenly as possible, "That is the most important thing I suppose."

Chakotay started to reply but was interrupted by a satisfied looking Tom stepping out of the bar with a burly and hard faced man they both assumed was the proprietor. "I got us one room for the night."

"One room?" Seven echoed uneasily, fighting the irrational urge to blush as Chakotay caught her eye unintentionally.

Tom shrugged, "It was the best I could do for fifteen bars." Seven got the hint and quickly passed the bars to the stranger, who stank of Andorian ale but still cast a wary glance in B'Elanna's direction, who was by now almost unconscious.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked brusquely.

Tom gave a sheepish grin and unceremoniously picked B'Elanna up in his arms. "You know what women are like when they've had too much; she just needs to sleep it off."

His easy charm must have convinced because the man just nodded and led them up a dank, badly lit staircase to a small room filled to capacity by a sunken double bed and a mangy looking chair. Tom gave a dark mutter as he carefully laid B'Elanna on the bed, his fingers brushing her damp brow soothingly. "I'll go and see what I can get to deal with that ankle; it must have been fractured after all." He told them seriously, not waiting for Chakotay's nod of approval before disappearing out of the door.

Chakotay sighed as he watched Seven gently prop up a now unconscious B'Elanna's leg. "It's weird to see her not pregnant isn't it?" he murmured distractedly as his drained body sank into the chair, making it groan in complain.

Seven nodded thoughtfully, "It is somewhat disturbing." She agreed thoughtfully, her expression distant.

"But not as much so as some of the other things you've seen?" Chakotay guessed quietly.

"No." Seven said in a whisper, head down.

His mind told him to press her for detail on what she'd experienced but his more sensitive heart wouldn't allow the words to leave his lips. Instead he tackled, another, the most fundamental, issue. "How are we going to get out of this Seven?"

Seven sighed heavily; she'd been dreading that question almost as much as one about her alternate's family. "I am truly uncertain; my limited knowledge of such phenomenon tells me that the fault is most likely only repairable at the point of origin…"

"In our reality." Chakotay concluded for her, "Isn't there _anything_ we can do from here?"

Seven bit down apprehensively on her lip. "This reality's Kathryn Janeway did tell me of a Starfleet programme working on alternate realities; it's apparently highly classified but…"

"It's our only choice." Chakotay finished abruptly.

Seven nodded. "Yes, or wait, which is dangerous since we are now fugitives."

Chakotay sighed, his head throbbing with built up tension. "Then our decision been made for us, we need to head for San Francisco."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D You can really tell I had writer's block with this can't you?**


	17. Chapter 17

"So, let me get this straight…" Tom began tersely as he stared incredulously at Chakotay and Seven sitting pensively before him, "You want to go to San Francisco, Starfleet's nest of power, and _ask_ them to help you?"

Chakotay grimaced at his tone, the plausibility of his and Seven's plan diminishing in front of his eyes. Seven though, true to form, didn't let any of the doubts she'd expressed to Chakotay the night before show now, her face determinedly impassive as she returned Tom's gaze. "Yes, we do." She stated shortly.

B'Elanna, now mostly recovered since Tom had found a dermal regenerator, sat bolt upright on the dingy bed she'd had to spend the night on, glared at the other woman in disbelief. "But _why_?" She continued angrily before Seven or Chakotay could reply. "Do you realise how much Chakotay would be risking by going there? He'll get rearrested because you listened to some claptrap that Captain of yours gave you! You've said yourself that the only likely way of you getting back to your reality is someone on Voyager figuring it out, that there's little you can do from here, so why risk it?"

Seven couldn't help but be shaken by B'Elanna's words, they'd hit a painful nerve; she'd spent most of the night before fretting about what the consequences would be if the plan went wrong. "I must do something to help myself out of this situation…" She murmured tightly.

Chakotay gave her hand a quick squeeze and frowned at B'Elanna. "Why did we risk our lives for the Maquis B'Elanna?" he asked quietly.

B'Elanna flushed. "You know why!" she snapped, "What's that to do with this?"

"Everything." Chakotay whispered harshly before his voice became gentler. "I just want my _own_ life back B'Elanna. Don't you want the friend you truly knew back here with you?"

Tom intervened anxiously when he saw that B'Elanna was on the brink of frustrated tears. "Of course she does, all she's saying is, is it worth making this worse for something that probably won't even help you? I mean, how likely is it, really, that those scientists are going to believe your story?" He heard Chakotay and Seven both sigh doubtfully and pressed his point further, "What's so wrong with waiting it out here? You told me you've been travelling for seven years to get back home, well here you are on a Earth, even if it's not exactly the same, it's got to be better than being marooned in the Delta Quadrant!"

"Voyager is the _only_ home I've ever had!" Seven said sharply, blushing as Chakotay looked at her in surprise before nodding slowly.

"I have a duty to my crew, I can't abandon them now." He said softly, "I firmly believe that Voyager _will_ get home one day and I want to be there when it does."

He watched B'Elanna swallow hard as acceptance filtered slowly into her dark eyes. "What can we do to help?" she asked quietly after a heavy, fortifying sigh.

He smiled at her gratefully. "Any way you can, but I…" He glanced at Seven for support, which she gave with a silent nod of her head, "…_we_ don't want to put you two in danger."

Tom shrugged nonchalantly, "You broke us out of jail, I think we'll find some way to help you." He stood up and headed towards the doorway, "In fact, I think I may have just come up with one."

* * *

Tom looked challengingly into the screen of the public phone, "Come on Grebik, I know you can do me a better deal than that. It's only one little shuttle ride to San Francisco for God's sake! I'll give you 100 bars."

The wizened old Ferengi on the other side of the phone line, quirked an incredulous brow. "You're asking for an _illegal_ shuttle flight into one of the most secure cities in the Quadrant! 300 bars and not a slip lower."

"190 bars, if I fly the shuttle. You don't get an offer like that for that pile of junk of yours every day Grebik."

"For 210 I'll ask no questions about your business there." Grebik replied gruffly.

"Done." Tom agreed decisively. "I'll pay the deposit when you come to pick us up."

"I didn't say that! I have a cash upfront policy…" Grebik began to bluster.

"Rule of acquisition number 389: "Don't pay up until you get what you paid for."" Tom quoted smoothly.

"Fine." Grebik grumbled, "Be at these coordinates at 1400 hours." With that he hung up.

"Is he reliable?" Chakotay asked Tom doubtfully as he stepped out of the phone booth.

"He's a Ferengi." Tom said drily with a shrug, stating the obvious. "But I offered him over the odds, so he'll probably come."

"What if he slips information to the authorities?" Seven asked tightly, she'd been in the Collective with enough Ferengi to know their mindset as well as her own.

Tom laughed, "He won't. He's got too much to lose if they searched his ship."

Chakotay frowned as he glanced down at the coordinates Grebik had given them. "It'll take us at least an hour to get there, let's go…"

"Annika!" A cry of that familiar name interrupted him and he looked questioningly at Seven, whose complexion had paled considerably.

"Who is that?" he hissed in her ear as he saw a young blonde woman running down the street towards them.

Seven gulped hard. "Astrid Hansen…" She whispered in shock.

* * *

"Annika…" Annika shivered as the ghostly voice filled her ears, so soft and loving that it made her heart race. The darkness that somehow surrounded her was suddenly brightly illuminated, and she found herself standing in Voyager's Cargo Bay. "Annika…" The voice repeated dreamily.

"Chakotay?" she breathed in disbelief when she saw him standing before her, dressed in a smart suit that especially emphasised his handsomeness. "What are you doing here?" she asked him shakily.

He smiled at her, his eyes warm and reassuring as he extended his hand out to her. "Waiting for you." He answered simply.

A lump of emotion formed in her throat. "What?" she choked out, "But I'm right here…"

She barely had time to register the shake of his head before rough hands dragged her back from him forcefully. "Annika!" A new voice hissed harshly into her ear from behind her. "What are you doing? You need to come home with _me_!"

"Home?" Annika echoed brokenly as she watched Chakotay somehow start to fade away from her. "Chakotay, wait!" she called out in panic, but the hands twisted her painfully from away and she got a shock as she recognised her captor. "Traxim!" He glared down at her as she tried to struggle free. "Let go of me Traxim!" she shouted angrily, only now noticing that her parents and Astrid were observing the scene in silence. "Help me!" she cried out to them in desperation, but they did nothing as Chakotay continued to fade away. "No Chakotay, don't go! _No_…"

"No!" Annika cried out in terror as she jerked awake suddenly, her head throbbing as she looked around the silent quarters, she was utterly alone. "Ugh…" She groaned brokenly as her self awareness returned, rubbing her aching temples as she looked down at the PADDs strewn over the desk. She must've fallen asleep while searching for a way out of this mess…

"Annika?" She jumped violently at the sound of Chakotay's voice echoing through her comm. badge.

"Y…Yes?" she stuttered, blushing deeply even though there was no way he could see her.

"Did you forget about the briefing?" he asked gently, "We're all here…"

"N…No, of course not. I'm sorry, I'll be right there." She replied hurriedly, snatching up a few of the PADDs before rushing off to the Briefing Room.

* * *

"I believe the solution lies in Seven and Chakotay's unique quantum signature Captain." Icheb told the briefing some time later. "The problem is how to trace it over so many possible realities."

Janeway nodded. "My thoughts exactly Icheb. Does anyone have any ideas? What information can we gather from the accident itself?"

"From what I can tell it was caused by an anomaly made up of polarised tetrion particles, which reacted to colliding with the ship and somehow made their way in via Astrometrics sensors." B'Elanna replied.

Annika whipped her head around in interest. "Did you say tetrion particles?" she asked urgently.

"Yeah, why?" B'Elanna asked curiously.

"My field of study is quantum physics. My team were working on the phenomenon of Fluidic Space and how to keep track of any research teams we may send into such an unknown environment, one method we considered was tetrion particles to trace people at the micro-cellular level."

Icheb choked in shock at her words. "You were _studying_ Fluidic Space?" When she nodded, every Voyager crewmember paled. "Well don't!" He exclaimed in near panic.

Janeway cleared her throat. "What Icheb means to say is that we advise you to stop doing that. Species 8472, who live there, are extremely dangerous." She sighed in relief when Annika quickly nodded her understanding and moved back to the topic at hand. "Do you think you could use this method to find Seven and Commander Chakotay?"

"I think so." Annika replied honestly.

B'Elanna nodded in agreement. "And then we can try to replicate the circumstances of the accident to swap them back over."

"Get started." Janeway ordered enthusiastically.

Everyone began to file out, but Chakotay hung back when he saw Annika hovering anxiously, as if the latest development had paralysed her with shock. "Hey…" He murmured, squeezing her shaking shoulder, "Don't worry, everything will be okay…"

She turned to face him, now only inches separated them. "What if it doesn't work?" she croaked out tearfully.

He wiped at the tear rolling down her cheek absently, "Then we'll find another way…" He whispered.

Neither of them made the first move, but somehow it happened. Their lips met in a soft kiss that quickly deepened and grew more passionate, until that is images of her dream flashed through Annika's mind and she pulled back, "I'm engaged…to be married…" She whispered brokenly.

The confusion in his eyes immediately changed to an agony which created a crack in her heart, but when he said his next, guilt filled words, her heart broke completely. "I'm…sorry…" He muttered before his face became unreadable and he turned back towards the doorway.

She reached out to him, clutching only empty air. "Chakotay…wait…" She choked out but as she heard the doors close she broke down in sobs.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/n: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my new C/7 story, "Bonds of Love, Ties of Family", especially to Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay because she also updated "Far from Home" despite issues with her laptop.**

AU Earth

"Astrid Hansen?" Chakotay echoed in dread and incredulity, but as his gaze shifted from Seven's drawn, ghostly face to the other woman's agitated one and back again, he knew the resemblance was undeniable.

"Annika!" Astrid gasped in breathless anger as she finally reached them, "Do you have any idea how worried sick we've…" She began to berate Seven immediately but halted abruptly as she saw her companions. She paled in shock before seizing Seven's limp wrist and pulling her protectively away. Chakotay felt both Tom and B'Elanna stiffen beside him; obviously their prison break hadn't gone completely unnoticed by the media if they were being this easily recognised as a threat. "What are you doing?" Astrid hissed at Seven in an urgent and panicky tone, continuing to try and drag her back from Chakotay and the others but Seven stood her ground, gently but firmly releasing her wrist from Astrid's frantic grasp.

"I am fine Astrid." Seven told her as levelly as she could, gulping hard as Astrid's unconvinced and blazing blue eyes stared up at her. "Please try not to worry…"

Astrid laughed in bitter frustration, "I could give you_ plenty_ of reasons for me to worry!" Seven flinched and Chakotay automatically moved forward reassuringly, earning an icy sharp glare from Astrid. "First there are _them_…" Astrid gestured dramatically at Chakotay, Tom and B'Elanna. "Then there's how you haven't been back to work, how you run off to a different hemisphere for days without telling anyone _and_ drain your entire bank account, as well as walking around without your engagement ring…"

"I…I did not feel right wearing it…" Seven tried to explain clumsily, tackling the easiest of her accusations first. She didn't see thee relief flickering across Chakotay's face at her words, but found herself blushing anyway.

"Fine, you dumped him! Papa will be relieved!" Astrid replied hotly, "But that doesn't mean you can just pull a massive disappearing act on the rest of us." Her voice became pleading now, desperate, as she glanced warily back at the three strangers she knew as escaped convicts, "What are you doing with these people? They could ruin your life…"

Seven winced and looked at her sadly, "This is not my life to ruin." She murmured ruefully. She sighed heavily as read Astrid's blank, and by now rather tearful, expression. "I am not Annika."

"You look like her to me!" Astrid choked out harshly before taking a deep breath and gently pulling Seven's face towards her, "I think I know my own big sister." she said softly with a weak smile.

Seven's determination began to disappear, perhaps it would be wrong to tell her, but then she met Chakotay's sympathetic eyes and swallowed; it was wrong to lie. "You do not understand Astrid; I am not the Annika you know because I'm from an alternate reality…"

Astrid's lips parted incredulously as she stepped back from her, flinching as if she'd been slapped. "Annika, if you're going to lie to me at least tell me something plausible!" she snapped, feeling betrayed and hurt. "Or better yet, tell me the _truth_! Even if you have joined some Maquis cult, I'd rather know that than…"

"I _am_ telling you the truth…" Seven began desperately, trying to remain calm and failing miserably.

Chakotay chose this moment to intervene, putting a soothing hand on Seven's shoulder as he kindly addressed Astrid, "She is telling you the truth. Seven…Annika and I, were in an accident in our reality that brought us, unwillingly, to this one. All we're trying to do is return to our own lives and hopefully get your sister back here in the process."

"Hope…Hopefully?" Astrid whispered bleakly, avoiding looking at Seven or Chakotay as she tried to process this outlandish situation and instead focusing in on B'Elanna and Tom, "You two are from this alternate reality too?" she asked with scathing sarcasm.

"No." B'Elanna answered hurriedly, "But we believe them now." She gestured at Chakotay, "That's not the man I've known for over ten years, he's similar but he's not the same. I'm willing to bet that you know, somewhere deep inside, that she's not your sister."

Astrid gulped rapidly as her mind absorbed B'Elanna's words. She felt tears begin to slide down her cheeks as she stared at Seven searchingly and found herself reluctantly starting to agree with the half Klingon's statement. "Tell me something about me, my favourite colour, my first boyfriend, _anything_." She asked Seven tightly, who just gazed at her unhappily.

"I don't know anything." She admitted, with so honest an expression that Astrid couldn't hold back a sob of disbelief.

"Come on, we have to go home…to _my_ parents' home…" She corrected brokenly.

Seven shuddered, she couldn't face them again! "Why distress them? I will do my best to return their daughter to them but they cannot help us. We will go to Starfleet and seek their assistance…"

Astrid snorted, "Mama and Papa are just as good a pair of scientists as anyone at Starfleet! If they can't help you, no one can." She must have seen the doubt and fear in Seven's face for she continued, "Annika, they would do anything to help you, you're their daughter, different version or not. They at least deserve to know, come home with me."

Seven clenched her fists to stop them from shaking as she glanced plaintively up at Chakotay for support, who murmured, "It's your decision Seven." He believed that if the worse happened and they never got back, Seven needed closure with her parents if nothing else.

Tom sighed when he saw Seven nod tentatively at her "sister", "I suppose I'd better go change the plans with Grebik then shouldn't I?"

* * *

U.S.S Voyager

Annika distractedly rubbed at the salty tears that were streaming down her face as she leaned heavily on the Briefing Room's table to stay upright, memories of that intensely passionate, but all too brief, kiss with Chakotay continuing to taunt her. Why? Why had any of this happened? How had she managed to fall so deeply, for fall in love she now knew for certain she had, in so short and so traumatic a space of time? Did it really matter? She'd been a cruel idiot to tell him about Traxim anyway, but wouldn't it have been worse to lie? An ache that had been thudding in her head for the last few minutes intensified to a head-splitting throb and she began to feel dizzy. She had to get in control of herself before that damned implant reasserted its dominance over her…

"Dr Hansen, I think you should…" B'Elanna stopped in mid sentence as she re-entered the Briefing Room to see Annika hunched over the table and sobbing brokenly.

Annika jerked her head up, flushing in shame. "I'm sorry, I…"

"No, no, it's okay…" B'Elanna said awkwardly, after all even through she knew it wasn't Seven she was really talking to, seeing Seven's body crippled with sobs was shocking enough to throw her off. "Is…Is there anything I can do?" she offered quietly, "Anything you want to talk about?" Kahless, what am I doing? B'Elanna thought frantically as she said this. Counselling is Chakotay's forte, certainly not mine!

Annika shook her head bleakly, "Thank you, but…" She stopped as a longing to confide overwhelmed her, "This…experience has just been so confusing, I can't help re-evaluating my life back home. I don't think I can go back to it, as I was before…"

B'Elanna couldn't help but smile knowingly, "Before Chakotay you mean?" She met Annika's sharp, questioning frown easily enough, she was used to dealing with Seven after all. "We can see it, or at least I can. I've known our Chakotay for over ten years, I could tell when he was in love with Seska and I can tell what this Chakotay feels for you now…"

Despite herself, Annika felt a hot flame of jealousy flare within her. "Seska?" she asked tightly.

"Don't worry, there's no competition, she was a traitorous bitch of mammoth proportions." B'Elanna assured her quickly, her face darkening at the very thought of her murderous former friend.

Annika sagged forward slightly in relief before tensing again unhappily. "I had someone else, before I came here. I thought I cared for him, but it's nothing compared to what I feel for…" She trailed off, blushing. "I feel so trapped by everything…"

"Tom and I, we flirted around a love/hate relationship for years, but when the love finally really does hit you it's "like a Bat'Leth round the head", as my mother used to say. That didn't stop my fear from fighting it for a long time though…" B'Elanna sighed regretfully, "Just go take the chance, you can work out the details later, after we get you both back home."

Annika nodded slowly and began to head blindly towards the doors before remembering herself and turning back to her advisor, "Thank you."

* * *

Chakotay's chest shuddered as he finally stopped for air upon reaching his temporary quarters. A strangled sound, between a groan and a sob, also left his throat and he kicked out angrily at the wall. Why? Why did he have to… He ground his teeth together and put his head in his hands as he sank into a chair, trying valiantly to calm himself. What right did he have over her anyway? Yes, she had responded to him but why should that mean she should give up her life for him? He was in _jail _back home for God's sake! He couldn't give her anything… Self hatred flooded him completely just as the doorbell rang out urgently. When he ignored it, it rang out again and again…

Suddenly there was a sound of shorted out electrics from behind the doors and they flew open to reveal Annika, her face visibly tear-stained as she looked down at the assimilation tubes extended from her hand, "These things do come in handy sometimes." She said with a weak smile, indicating the wrecked lock. She sighed fearfully as he stared back at her in silence, "I'm…so sorry, but you didn't let me explain how I feel…"

Chakotay stood up slowly, "There's nothing to explain Annika." He replied in a dead tone.

"There is!" she retorted fervently, "I just wanted to be honest with you, but what my situation was before I even met you doesn't change the fact that…" She swallowed hard as she stepped closer towards him, "…I'm irrevocably in love with _you_."

Chakotay stopped her hand as it reached out to him. "It doesn't matter…" He said thickly, "You should go."

"Why?" Annika asked tearfully.

"Because seeing me like this is misleading you! I'm not really an honourable Starfleet Commander; I'm in jail at home Annika! What sort of life is that for you?"

"That is your pride talking! You need to understand that I don't care!" Annika told him desperately.

"But…" Chakotay began before being interrupted by a new arrival in the doorway. It was Icheb.

"I think we've found the way to send you back." He announced in relief.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I hope Annika and B'Elanna's conversation was believable, and to the reviewers who were wondering if Seven and Chakotay will ever get as romantic in this story as their alternate counterparts, don't worry, they will! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/n: Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed my new C/7 story, "Listen To Your Heart", I never expected such positive feedback! I hope you enjoy this chapter too! :D**

AU Earth

"What do you mean you won't take us? We had an agreement!" Tom shouted irately down the phone line at Grebik, the Ferengi who had agreed to secretly fly them out of New Zealand. "You got a good price…"

Grebik snorted, "That isn't enough latinum for it to be worth my while breaking the new Earth wide flight ban!"

Tom stared at him in confusion. "What flight ban?" he asked blankly.

Grebik gave an incredulous and bellowing laugh. "You humans are even less intelligent than other species that ignore profit, and that's saying something! The Cardassians entered an alliance with the Dominion last night! War has been declared and the Federation have banned all non-Starfleet air activity around Earth until the threat of invasion has diminished. There's no way I can get into San Francisco now!"

Tom paled for a moment before recovering his characteristic charm, "There's actually been a change of plans Grebik, we don't want to go to San Francisco anymore. We need to go to Connecticut. New Haven to be precise."

Grebik's ears gave an intrigued twitch, his eyes brightening with an opportunistic gleam. "For fifty more bars I _might_ consider it…"

"Fifty bars?" Tom exploded in outrage, "No way…"

Seven, Chakotay, B'Elanna and Astrid looked on as they continued to argue back and forth. Seven noticed the grim expression on Chakotay's and murmured, "Do not concern yourself, the Ferengi always give in to the temptation of monetary gain and this Tom Paris seems to be as good a negotiator as our Lieutenant Paris."

Chakotay smiled fleetingly at Tom, who was still bargaining furiously, before meeting Seven's gaze seriously, "The Dominion War has just started here, a few years late." He commented without elaborating, but Seven found she could guess his feelings.

"Yes, it is unsettling knowing that there most likely to be a great deal of bloodshed ahead in this reality, as there was in ours, but the Federation did eventually succeed, did they not?"

Chakotay breathed a tense sigh, "Maybe they won't be so lucky here, I'd hate for the Cardassians to win in any reality."

Seven put a comforting hand lightly on his arm. "Is it not also the case that the Federation's enmity with the Cardassians led to the Maquis being pardoned? Perhaps this development means that you and B'Elanna are no longer "on the run" in this world?"

Chakotay gave a low laugh, although Seven could hear the hint of bitterness in it. "That would be a godsend wouldn't it? Although since all the nearly all the surviving Maquis are in the Delta Quadrant with Voyager, we've never had the chance to see how solid that offer of amnesty would truly be."

Seven bit her lip and lowered her eyes from his, suddenly intense, gaze, unsure of how to respond in order to lift his spirits. It was in this moment of indecision that Astrid tugged lightly on her arm for attention, eyeing Tom and his ongoing argument with the Ferengi uneasily. "Annika, _we_ could use normal, legal, methods to get home…" She began tightly.

Seven frowned at her for a moment before replying with stubborn stoicism, "I will not leave them behind Astrid." She said firmly, "They come with us or _I _stay here with them."

Astrid studied her face, as if gauging her level of seriousness, before giving an exasperated sigh, throwing her shoulders back and stalking over to the phone, pushing Tom out of the way as she flashed a few strips of latinum at the screen. "If you take us all to New Haven, I will pay you a hundred more bars!" she snapped irritably.

The Ferengi grinned lewdly at Astrid before addressing Tom once more, "I like her! Done!"

Chakotay chuckled under his breath as he saw Seven watching this scene in disbelief. "You Hansens are a decisive bunch in any reality!" he teased affectionately, earning himself a raised eyebrow and a small smirk from Seven in reply.

* * *

Seven stopped midway onto Grebik's shuttle as she saw Astrid impatiently gesturing for her to come and sit with her, separate from what Seven considered the reassuring safety of Chakotay and B'Elanna; Tom was at the flight controls with Grebik. Chakotay urged her forward with a gentle push between the shoulder blades. "She won't bite you Seven."

"It will be awkward…" Seven whispered back, "I...I don't know what to say to her."

"Just be honest, she deserves a little more explanation considering what she's risking." Chakotay advised as he gave her arm a sympathetic squeeze. "I'll be right over there, watching Grebik to check he doesn't get up to anything, okay?"

Seven gave a mute and resigned nod in response before heading shakily over to Astrid and sitting beside her without meeting the younger woman's querying eyes, instead focusing on her own clenched hands pressed tensely into her lap. "You okay?" Astrid asked in a whisper, sighing when Seven only nodded and deciding to take a different tact, "Why does he…" She pointed out Chakotay ahead of them, "…call you Seven?"

Seven's fists curled even more until her knuckles turned white. "He refers to me as such because "Seven" is the designa…" She corrected herself hurriedly, "…name I use in our reality."

"How did_ that _happen? A _number_ can't possibly be a nickname for God's sake!" Seven shook head in denial and Astrid huffed a frustrated sigh, "Throw me a bone here Annika, it can't be that bad!"

"Can't it?" Seven muttered almost inaudibly before turning to look her straight in the eye. "I was Borg. I am Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One."

Astrid's mouth dropped open momentarily as her face drained of colour, "_Excuse me_?" she hissed in disbelief, "That's impossible!"

"Far from it." Seven replied with a sigh, "In my reality you were not conceived, meaning that our parents decided to continue their mission to pursue and study Borg onboard the U.S.S Raven. I was taken with them and we were all assimilated just after my sixth birthday."

Astrid's eyes filled with angry tears, "Prove to me! _Prove _you're a Borg!"

Seven sighed, she's been anticipating this. "87.1% of my body consisted of cybernetic implants. I was connected to a Hive mind of over 10.5 billion drones from 69, 981 species. I did not eat, sleep, dream or think…"

"Stop, stop…" Astrid pleaded brokenly, "I believe you." She gasped out, "How…how were you freed from them?"

"I was cut off from the Collective while trying to assimilate Voyager. Its First Officer, Chakotay, managed to sever my link to the Hive mind and Captain Janeway decided to allow me to live onboard as an individual member of its crew." Seven explained quietly.

Astrid gulped repeatedly. "And you think my Annika is on that ship now…as a freed drone?" she choked out.

"Yes." Seven answered as gently as she could, worried Astrid was about to faint and holding her upright as a precaution.

"I'm alright…Seven." Astrid shook her off, ignoring Seven's surprise at her use of her designation. She lay back in her seat for several minutes to try to calm herself before she caught Chakotay shooting anxious glances at Seven. "That's Chakotay, from your reality, right?" Seven nodded concisely. "And you didn't know he…transferred with you, not at first?" Astrid continued.

"No, I did not." Seven answered, unsure where she could be going with this.

"Then why, out of all the people you could have gone to, did you choose to go to a prison to ask for help from a man who may have been a complete stranger to you?" Astrid pressed.

"I could not just leave him in prison when I know he wouldn't do anything dishonourable!" Seven said emphatically, flushing when she realised how passionate she sounded. "I…I knew…hoped he would help me." She murmured.

"Ahh…" Astrid concluded, a knowing smile flickering over her tear stained face.

* * *

"This is your family home?" B'Elanna asked in a somewhat awestruck tone as they came to the end of the gracefully curved driveway, set among mature trees, to see a sprawling but handsome red-brick mansion standing before them.

"Yeah…" Astrid replied hurriedly, "I'd better go warn my parents that you've arrived." She quickened her step and trotted up the remainder of the drive, soon disappearing into the house through the front door.

All of Seven's resolve to continue drained away as Astrid left and she halted on the gravel, shocked by the tears she was fighting back. A strong arm had closed around her shoulders within a few seconds and Seven looked up to meet Chakotay's eyes. "How bad was it, meeting them before?" he murmured in concern.

"Traumatic." Seven admitted, after a minute or so of silence. "They were so…loving towards me…" She choked out, tears finally beginning to roll freely down her cheeks, "…so oblivious to everything, it hurt so much…" She let Chakotay silently guide her dampened face onto his shoulder as she sobs, but soon regained control, sniffing hard. "I underestimated how painful it would be to see what was denied me in life…"

"That's natural." Chakotay consoled, "I know that none of this is fair on you…"

"But it must be done." Seven said determinedly, even as she struggled to start to walk forward.

"Okay." Chakotay agreed, moving his arm down so that it coiled supportively around her waist. Seven forgot her self imposed rules of distance and Starfleet's rules on formality and openly leaned into him in relief as they headed for the front door where Tom and B'Elanna already stood.

Seven gave a horrified gasp when she saw who stood, looking violently thunderous, at the door's threshold. "Traxim…"

"Oh, so you _do _remember me do you?" Traxim snarled back as he saw her, his eyes narrowing even further with self-righteous jealously as he saw Chakotay with his arm still protectively around Seven. "I suppose I know now what you've been doing the last few days?"

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	20. Chapter 20

_AU EARTH_

Seven felt the muscles in Chakotay's arm around her waist tense in anger, his hand curling into a slight fist, as they both registered the offensive innuendo behind Traxim's venomous tirade. Unconsciously leaning back against him soothingly until he relaxed slightly, she then turned her attention on her alternate's suitor. She couldn't help but be shocked in the changes that had taken place in the face of the charming, but somehow uncaring Trill. His quick, teasing grey eyes were now narrow and glaring with anger, disbelief and jealousy. "Well?" he prodded sharply; irrationally infuriated by the piercingly direct and detached stare she was giving him. Her lack of reaction disturbed him even more than the obviously protective man beside her; he'd always been able to get under Annika's skin before.

"I highly doubt that any scenarios you've come up with as to my situation are accurate." Seven replied with as much composure as she could. She didn't particularly want to be responsible for the break-up of her alternate's relationship, although at that moment she couldn't see what Annika had seen in the man before her, now almost convulsing with anger as she coolly tried to walk into the house past him.

Traxim's muscular arm shot out in front of her, blocking the doorway as his eyes shifted between Seven and Chakotay, and Tom and B'Elanna just behind them. "I think I can make a good guess _honey_." He muttered derisively through gritted teeth, "Or is _he_ the one who gets to call you that now?" he jeered, eyebrow arched in a superior fashion as she swallowed. "I knew it! You little…"

Seven lost her patience and shoved his arm aside, surprised at the strength in her unenhanced body. "You know _nothing_." She retorted icily, "I must converse with my parents, please do not interfere."

"I'll do whatever I damn well please…" Traxim began to fume before footsteps behind him made him halt.

It was Astrid, the dislike Seven wished she could reveal for the man evident on her face. "Aren't you going to let her into her own house? If you let her explain you might learn something."

"She's going to have to explain alright." Traxim ground out as he stepped grudgingly aside to let them join Astrid in the hallway, gasping in pain as B'Elanna "accidently" stamped down on his foot.

"It's us she going to have to explain it to Traxim, not you." Magnus Hansen said coldly, his face paling as he saw the three Maquis Astrid had started to warn him to expect before Traxim's behaviour had called for her sisterly intervention.

"Yes, I believe you're right." Seven replied quietly, self-doubt beginning its attack on her as he stared at her. What if Astrid was wrong? What if her parents refused to believe, let alone help her? The sensation of someone hugging her hard pushed these thoughts away as she gasped out brokenly, "Mama?"

Erin Hansen's grip on her tightened even further as sobs of relief shook her frame. "Oh Annika, I'm so glad you're back! Why did you…" She stopped mid question as she saw the sympathetic dark eyes of a handsome, facially tattooed man meet hers over Seven's shoulder. "Who are you?" she asked in a terse whisper, pulling back from a shaken Seven to look questioningly at her.

Chakotay respectfully extended his hand out to her, giving Seven's hand a quick reassuring squeeze with his other as he did so, which didn't go unnoticed by any of them, particularly Traxim. "I'm a friend Mrs Hansen, don't worry."

"So are we." Tom added bravely, the first words he'd spoken since he'd entered the house, its atmosphere electric with tension.

"He is correct." Seven continued quickly, grimacing when she saw the older woman pale.

"Your new friends are also Maquis aren't they?" Magnus cut in, frowning warily.

"I was, it's a very complicated situation." Chakotay replied as honestly as he could, stepping closer to the other man he dimly remembered from Seven's memories. "I can assure you Dr Hansen that none of us are trying to harm your family, I'd never hurt Se…Annika, but we do need your help."

Magnus swallowed as he took in the stranger's words, much as he wanted to disregard him the glow of intense emotion that filled his eyes when he spoke of Annika made Magnus' defences drop a little. "Do _you _need our help Annika?" he asked her softly, watching as she shifted closer to Chakotay.

"Very much so…Papa." Seven murmured thickly, "Please let me explain the situation…"

"I think I know what's going on here!" Traxim snapped suddenly, striding forward and seizing Seven's wrist painfully. "Are you purposely playing games with me or do you think I'm stupid Annika?" he snarled as she began to resist him, glaring at her accusingly, "Do you really expect me to believe that you suddenly need to help some traitorous Maquis out of the goodness of your heart? Are you going to tell your doting parents that you broke him out of jail?" he yelled, his handsome now contorted with violent rage as he stabbed a finger in Chakotay's direction, "What kind of hold has he got over you that…"

Seven heard her mother gasp at the knowledge that she'd participated in a jail break but was aware of little else as her own temper was set alight with defensive anger. "That _traitorous _Maquis has a far greater hold over me than you ever will!" she spat out at him in disgust.

"You cheating bitch!" Traxim howled, his hand slamming viciously into her face in a backhanded smack, her head snapping sideways as her mother's scream rang out over her stunned senses.

"Annika!" Astrid's horrified cry brought Seven momentarily paralysed instincts back to life. She kicked out at her attacker's shins and knocked him to his knees just as Chakotay delivered a pummelling punch to the man's exposed side, the blow so strengthened by hot, blind fury that Seven was sure she heard at least one rib crack before he collapsed to the floor.

Breathing hard and with blank eyes, Chakotay bent to punch the man again but Seven held him back, forcing him to look at her and calm down. "Thank you Chakotay, that's enough."

"I don't think so!" Magnus snapped as he stepped over the now prostrate man. "Get out of my house. If you _ever_ dare to go within 200 miles of my daughter again I'll…"

Traxim stood up shakily, spitting at Seven as Chakotay pulled her behind him, his fists itching to reconnect with the face now cruelly twisted as he replied to Magnus, "You want your beloved daughter to be a Maquis whore? _Fine_!" With that, he turned and stormed out of the still open door, slamming it shut behind him.

Seven couldn't stop a choked gasp of relief as her abuser disappeared. Chakotay was beside her again in an instant, peering anxiously at her face, one side of which was a fiery red and rapidly bruising. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Seven answered quickly, "It is irrelevant now." She murmured softly as she nonchalantly rubbed her throbbing cheekbone, her mind already on other things.

"_Irrelevant_?" Magnus echoed incredulously, "Has he hit you before?"

Seven gave a sheepish shrug. "I do not know. I would hope not."

"How can you _not _know something like that?" Erin shrieked tearfully, her daughter's oddly emotionless reaction to such a personal attack upsetting her almost as much as the attack itself.

"That's where the explanation comes in handy Mama." Astrid admitted.

**A/n: I hope this is okay, I had planned to make it much longer but I've had writers' block with it so decided to stop here, hopefully I'll update very soon. PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/n: I know I said I'd update "The Gift" again today but I want to make the action scenes really good so it'll take me a bit longer to write. My inspiration for this story came back today and I just had to write it. I hope you enjoy! :D**

_AU Earth_

Magnus Hansen shot his younger daughter a sharp look. "I'm sure we'll get to that explanation Astrid, in time." He murmured quietly before gesturing politely to Tom and B'Elanna to come further into the room, they had been hovering uneasily at the threshold to the living room since Traxim had been kicked out, uncertain of their welcome. "All of you sit down, please." The strain of the situation showed in his face as he himself sat down on the larger sofa. Astrid quickly joined him, running a soothing hand up his arms from his still clenched fists. Chakotay knew, as he guided Seven to the other sofa, that it must have enraged and upset the older man to see his daughter attacked, both physically and verbally, by the man he thought was preparing to be his son-in-law.

Although she'd been asked to sit down, Seven remained standing. In her shaken state her old Borg habits were reasserting themselves, unconsciously she felt safer, ready to fight or flee at a second's notice. Her body jumped nervously as Erin Hansen re-entered the room, carrying a dermal regenerator and looking distinctly puffy eyed as she approached her daughter and raised the regenerator to her badly bruised cheek. Seven couldn't help but draw back instinctively, wincing from guilt rather than pain as Erin's green eyes filled with hurt and confusion. As always, Chakotay helpfully stepped in, gently prising the regenerator from Erin's quivering hands. "I'll do that Mrs Hansen." He offered firmly, clapping his warm hand over Seven's shoulder as he did so and pushing her gently down onto the sofa, where he immediately sat down beside her and began to treat her injuries as best he could.

As the bruises began to reassuringly fade away, Astrid cleared her throat and smiled apologetically at Seven, "Isn't it time to explain now, before this gets even more complicated?" She sighed tiredly, a hint of bitterness in her voice as she looked over at her parents' pensive faces. They were in for a painful, horrific shock if Seven told them half as much as she'd told her. "Not that I think this situation could get more complicated if it tried."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Tom remarked sympathetically in reply, "What about getting them back?"

Erin's brows furrowed angrily, "Getting _who _back? Annika is right where she belongs!"

"Mama, just listen please…" Astrid began pleadingly as she futilely tried to comfort her visibly overwrought mother.

"Yes Erin honey, let's hear them out." Magnus intervened. His outwardly calm exterior with his expectant eyes now on her disturbed Seven more than her mother's outburst and she gulped hard, glancing at Chakotay for support.

Chakotay laid the dermal regenerator aside and gave her forearm a light squeeze. "You had better explain the practical, scientific side of what has happened." He advised her softly before smiling wryly, "I can barely follow what has happened to us myself and it's happening to me."

Seven nodded slowly, she'd already known in her heart that they'd only believe her, not Chakotay. Telling them seemed to be unavoidable. Taking as deep and as fortifying a breath as possible, she broached their situation in as simple a way as she could. "You are both aware of the existence of alternate realities?"

The couple both looked taken aback for a few seconds but had enough curiosity to follow her train of thought. "Well yes, the theory is very well established, first by Einstein…" Erin began to answer, only to be interrupted by her husband.

"It's not a theory anymore, the experiences of the crews of the U.S.S Enterprise and Deep Space Nine prove that." Magnus said emphatically before narrowing his eyes at Seven, "I don't see what any of that has got to do with you darling."

Seven sighed heavily, "It has everything to do with me…" She glanced at Chakotay, "…with us. Of that I can assure you." She scanned the room for a computer and found one. "B'Elanna, will you please find Starfleet Science's records of unknown spacial or temporal phenomena for Stardate 7763.9?"

"Sure." B'Elanna agreed hurriedly, scrambling over to the computer and spending several minutes searching through records as the rest of the group sat in an awkward silence. "Damn!" she exclaimed suddenly, slamming her fist off the console in frustration.

"What?" Tom asked anxiously, unconsciously rising off his chair to go to her.

"Those files have been blocked as classified by Starfleet Intelligence, I can't access them." B'Elanna explained.

"They must have realised what happened, partly at least." Chakotay guessed as Seven stood up and joined B'Elanna at the computer, setting to work.

"Well, what exactly _did_ happen?" Magnus snapped irritably as he began to lost patience.

"They're _from_ an alternate reality Papa!" Astrid burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. "Some spacial phenomena pulled them here and took Annika to their reality!"

Erin began to hyperventilate in disbelief. "Astrid, that is _impossible_…"

"Not impossible, but highly unlikely." Seven replied coolly as she pulled the computer around to face them all. "Look, this is the phenomena from four days ago…" She pointed out a list of complex readings, "And these are the readings from two comparable events at Deep Space Nine between two and four years ago."

Erin's mouth dropped open in frightened shock. "Oh my God…" She whispered bleakly, "They're almost identical…"

Magnus' frown deepened, "You shouldn't believe this!" He looked at Seven in angry bemusement, "If these readings are right, how did you even manage to break through Starfleet Intelligence's firewall?"

Seven winced and stood in front of the console. "It would be better for you not to know."

"Really?" Magnus echoed as he stood to his full height and looked at the screen over her shoulder. "Borg encryption codes… I've never seen such high level codes used outside of Unimatrix One and the Queen herself…" He whispered, not believing his eyes as he pulled his daughter around to face him, her complexion now ghostly pale. "You shouldn't know these, no human should be able to even remember, let alone _comprehend_,these codes…"

Seven swallowed the lump of tears strangling her voice. "You are correct; no human can comprehend these codes, not properly. But, in my reality, I am not human…not fully anyway. For the vast majority of my life I was not Annika Hansen but Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One."

* * *

_U.S.S Voyager_

"Icheb, are you quite certain this will work?" Captain Janeway asked her young crewman as she stood by his side in Astrometrics.

Icheb took a deep breath and glanced at B'Elanna for support, who nodded to him. "As certain as any of us can be in this situation, but I believe it's worth the risk." He looked worriedly towards Annika, who smiled at him from her position at the door, by Chakotay's side.

The Captain too now focused on Chakotay and Annika, the two people who would be burdened with the consequences of this risk. "It's entirely your choice; none of us will force you to do anything which could be dangerous."

"I think we've both made our choice Captain." Chakotay replied levelly, only continuing after Annika had nodded vigorously in agreement, "We want to go back to our home, and I'm pretty sure our alternates, if they're anything like us, are pretty desperate to get back here, so let's just get on with it."

Janeway gave an understanding nod, but her anxiety was written all over her face as she addressed the Doctor. "Have you got the scan prepared to read quantum signatures Doctor?"

"it's ready Captain, I should be able to tell when we've got _our _Seven and Chakotay back." Realising that he had been perhaps a little rude, he addressed Annika and Chakotay gallantly, "Of course I am also fully prepared to deal with any medical emergency which may result from this attempt."

"Thanks Doctor." Annika replied with a teasing smirk as she stepped onto the central part of the floor Icheb indicated.

"Ready?" B'Elanna asked apprehensively as Chakotay walked to Annika's side.

Chakotay's nervous smile of answer widened into a grin as Annika slid her hand into his and squeezed it hard, not letting go. Lifting their clasped hands to his mouth he kissed the back of her soft hand gently before replying to B'Elanna, his eyes fixed however on a nervously smiling Annika. "We're ready." He said confidently.

"Activating…" B'Elanna started to say but the reaction was more violent than any of them expected, Astrometrics was suddenly illuminated with a blinding white light before being plunged entirely into darkness.

**A/n: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D **


	22. Chapter 22

**A/n: This story has reached one hundred reviews, THANK YOU so much everyone! :D**

_AU Earth_

"A…A Borg designation?" Magnus Hansen whispered brokenly, his blue eyes, so like those of his daughter, staring at her vacantly for several seconds as if he'd withdrawn into himself completely. Seven swallowed, violently confronted with the flashback of watching his assimilation while hiding under a console, that same bleak, lost expression had been on his alternate's face at that moment. Gulping hard, she forced herself to nod, brushing her fingers against his hand in a comforting gesture.

This sign of magnanimity seemed to shatter the fragile barrier he'd mentally put up between himself and this information and an agonised groan left his throat, his body buckling over in physical pain. "Oh God, that's…that's why you asked me about…the Raven…" He choked out, jerking his head up to search her pale face for confirmation, which he obviously found as he slumped into the chair behind him, crouching over his knees and visibly fighting the urge to retch.

Erin's emerald gaze flickered wildly between her husband and daughter in disbelief before her whole body tensed. "_No_!" she cried out in frustrated denial, "It isn't true! I'd never let my baby be _assimilated_…" Her cry became strangled as Astrid, her pretty young face streaked with her own tears, tried to restrain her, but Erin wrenched herself away, storming up to the three Maquis. "You've put insane ideas in my daughter's head and I want you out of my house…"

"Don't Mama; for God's sake you're making this worse!" Astrid snapped at her mother tearfully.

"If you scan Chakotay and I with a tricorder I believe you will find our brain waves to have a different quantum signature to our own." Seven murmured almost inaudibly, keeping her gaze fixed on the floor.

Erin heard her and snatched a tricorder from Tom, who watched the whole proceedings in silent sympathy, his warm hand over B'Elanna's, who was shaking with suppressed emotion. After a scan lasting several overwrought seconds, Erin read the results and slumped heavily to her knees with a horrible breathless scream. She began to sob softly as Astrid sank down beside her, enveloping her younger daughter in a protective hug for a few minutes before bravely lifting her face to meet those of Seven and Chakotay. "Will I get my daughter back? The one whose life I haven't wrecked?" she asked with unexpected forcefulness, though her voice was hoarse with tears.

Seven flinched at the word "wrecked", allowing herself to lean into Chakotay's side as he put his arm around her, as if trying to shield her from her parents' outbursts. "We don't know." He answered honestly, "We're not sure if we can correct the switch from this reality, the problem happened on Voyager."

"Voyager?" Magnus echoed without looking in Chakotay's direction, "If Annika is a…drone…" He choked on the last word, his throat convulsing, "…how can she be on a Federation ship?" he asked, his tone accusatory, almost as if by asking difficult questions he could make this whole situation disappear.

"The Voyager crew, lost in the Delta Quadrant, severed my link to the Collective…" Seven took a deep, painful breath, "…when I attempted to assimilate their ship under the Queen's command."

Erin shook her head heavily, her bloodless lips quivering. "How did you survive that? No Borg has ever survived the reversal of the assimilation process, not even Captain Picard and he was only a drone for hours, you were…"

"For eighteen years." Seven filled in, shaken by the knowledge that Captain Picard had died in this reality and realising, by the tensing of his muscles beside her, that Chakotay was equally shocked. She began to feel tears slide silently down her own face as her mother's sobs began to reverberate through the room again. "I lived, although I'm sure it would've been easier on everyone involved if I hadn't." She admitted honestly, even as she felt Chakotay's fingers grip her arm in denial, his jaw shaking as he closed his eyes in pain. "In my reality I still have my most vital implants." She explained quietly, "My optical implant…" She unconsciously traced the curve of the implant around her bare eye as she spoke, "My cybernetic arm, my spinal implant, my cortical node…" She trailed off from her list as her eyes once again focused on the closed off, devastated faces of her parents. "My situation is not your fault; your true daughter seems to have a near perfect existence."

Magnus breathed a hollow, bitter laugh. "My angel…" He swallowed hard as he looked at her, "It's as painful for us…" He glanced at his wife, "…to know that you were assimilated as to our…alternates who witnessed it, please realise that!" His suddenly powerful voice dropped to a whisper as she nodded slowly, "We love you in any form sweetheart." He told her as he squeezed her quaking hand.

"Do…do you hate us?" Erin asked faintly as she caught Seven's eye.

Seven shook her head firmly. "No." She breathed a resigned sigh, "As for your alternates, I do not know them, that chance was stolen from me, but I…wish that I did."

"Do you really want to go back?" Astrid asked softly, "Back to being a Borg, when you could stay here?"

"I don't belong here, your sister does." Seven replied, "Will you help us to get back, to help your daughter to return here?"

"What do you need?" Magnus asked eagerly.

"Access to better scans at least." Chakotay told him.

"We'll do all we can. Don't worry." Magnus told Seven bravely, even managing to smile at her reassuringly despite his obvious inner turmoil.

Seven rubbed her aching temples. "I hope Annika does not despise me for ruining her relationship…" She murmured sheepishly.

Astrid shook her head vigorously, staring at Seven in disbelief. "She won't! Not after we're done telling her what he did!" she exclaimed vehemently.

Chakotay beamed at her in relief, "Good, I probably should have hit him hard…" He stopped mid sentence as both his and Seven's eyes rolled back simultaneously and they collapsed to the floor in a collective heap just as a white light filled the room, blinding the three Hansens who were watching in horror.

* * *

Erin breathed a choked cry of relief when she felt her daughter's head begin to stir where it lay on her lap five minutes later. "Annika's waking up!"

"It could still be Seven." Astrid reminded her mother tightly even as she handed a tricorder to her waiting father.

The young woman's fine blonde eyelashes began to flutter against her still tear-stained and bruised cheeks. "Mhh…" She moaned weakly, her lips parting as her eyes opened halfway. "Chakotay…" She mumbled anxiously in disorientation.

Erin stroked her daughter's damp forehead over and over as Magnus bent over her eagerly with the tricorder. "It's alright baby, Chakotay's just over there." Erin soothed, "Relax and let Papa scan you sweetheart."

Her eyes opened fully at the sound of Erin's voice. She seemed stunned at the sight of her for a moment before whispering, "Mama?" As Erin nodded, laughing and sobbing, Annika began to panic, "Chakotay! Where's Chakotay? He was with me…" She gasped out frantically.

Tom leaned over her now. "He can hear you Annika. He's waking up too."

Annika rolled over on the floor to face Chakotay despite her father's protestations as she heard him moan as she had moments before. "Chakotay? I think it worked Chakotay, we're home!"

Chakotay turned his head to her, his smile slightly dazed. "Annika…"

"Their quantum signatures match ours!" Magnus exclaimed in relief and delight, causing Annika to be embraced by her entire family at once before she could say another word to Chakotay.

**A/n: I decided to stop here; this was emotionally draining to write! PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/n: Thank you to Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay for updating "Far From Home" last night, it was a BRILLIANT chapter! This chapter is for you. :D**

_AU Earth_

Annika Hansen let herself crumple into her mother's waiting arms for several minutes, sharing in her family's sobs of relief as she greedily drank in their beloved faces. Finally, hearing Chakotay begin to properly come to beside her, she placed a reassuring hand on his arm while keeping one arm looped tightly around Erin's neck. "So…" she began awkwardly, clearing her throat to clarify her tearful words as she glanced over at her father, who still anxiously held a tricorder in one hand, "I'm guessing from what you said about quantum signatures that you know what've been though?" she asked quietly, stroking Chakotay's arm rhythmically as she did so went he fretfully muttered her name again.

Pain flickered across Magnus' face, "Yes, Chakotay and…Seven told us all they could."

"Seven?" Annika's chest tightened as she focused worriedly on her parents, "So you know about…"

"Her being assimilated?" Astrid finished, her lips twisting in regret as both of her parents flinched in sorrow and guilt. "Yes, they told us everything, or at least everything they needed to."

Annika looked at her sympathetically, knowing that her little sister must have had to support their parents a great deal during this ordeal. She had dearly hoped to keep her trauma of waking up as a former drone from them, but obviously that was no to be, since they'd already met the true victim of that horror, Seven of Nine herself. Slowly she reached over and squeezed her father's shaking hands, gently loosening his grip on the tricorder that he still clung to for dear life, as if it gave him a sense of purpose. "I'm so sorry you had to hear that." She whispered, gulping hard as she was assaulted by her own conflicted emotions, "I know how that hurts, but…she's fine on Voyager, surrounded by friends and people who care for her."

Magnus met her gaze with his own set of painfully glistening blue eyes. "That's good to hear honey…" He choked out before returning the hand squeeze warmly, "We would've done _anything _to get _you _back to us my love, but it was still agony to know that that happened in any reality…"

Erin and Astrid nodded in agreement and Annika hugged the three of them tightly in return, she knew she hadn't fully appreciated their close family relationship until she'd had a good chance of losing it. The first fully consciousness words of Chakotay distracted her as he sat up abruptly beside her, "We're in your house Annika?" he questioned tentatively, his face becoming worried and confused as she nodded gently, "How did I get out of jail?"

He didn't get his answer from an equally confused Annika, but from Tom's relieved laugh. "Seven's Borg voodoo managed to get the three of us out of a Cardassian death sentence…" He began to explain.

Chakotay laughed in relief at the sound of his voice, a beaming smile spreading across his face as he became fully aware of Tom and B'Elanna's presence for the first time. "B'Elanna! Tom!" he exclaimed, jumping up to hug both of them, "You wouldn't believe how great it is to see you!"

B'Elanna chuckled under her breath, "I think we would…"

"Yeah." Tom hurriedly agreed, "Although I have to admit I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome from you, however good friends we seem to be on Voyager, that wasn't exactly the case here…"

Chakotay breathed a heavy, regretful sigh as he belatedly remembered the bad blood between him and _this _Tom Paris. "I know, but recent experiences have made me regret that Tom. I'd be grateful to be your friend now."

Tom gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "I think you already are." He replied warmly.

Annika smiled happily at this heart-warming scene but was rather dismayed to see that this Tom and B'Elanna did not seem to be together, B'Elanna certainly wasn't pregnant anyway! Thinking of B'Elanna's earlier advice on Voyager she turned to Astrid, her heart sinking fearfully into her stomach. "Where's Traxim? I need to talk to him…" She saw Chakotay wince at the mention of Traxim's name, his gaze once again fixed on her, and she impulsively kissed on the cheek in reassurance. Her family visibly relaxed as they witnessed this undeniable sign of affection, a reaction Annika definitely hadn't expected. "What happened?" she asked quizzically, not sure if she truly wanted to know.

Magnus' face resembled that of a raging bull as he answered, eyes dark with lingering fury and nostrils flaring. "That…man…" He ground out, obviously choking back a curse, "…hit Seven, he didn't know she wasn't you, when she refused to go with him!"

"Hit me..." Annika murmured in disbelief as her hand travelled instinctively up to her jaw, which she'd had a throbbing pain in since she'd woken up here without realising why.

"Yes." Erin confirmed tersely, grasping her daughter's shoulders and looking at her pleadingly, "Had he hit you before Annika?"

Annika shook her head, feeling dazed. "I don't think so, not like that anyway." She mumbled before a broken sob choked her, "He could get a little rough if he was angry, but I never thought…" She hung her head in shame, "Oh God…" she gasped out, almost in a shriek, as she realised what she had been blindly walking into just a few short days before.

Relief washed over her as she was pulled protectively against someone's chest, though she blushed when she realised it was Chakotay who held her. "I think you'd better fills in the blanks for us." Chakotay advised everyone else quietly, "What happened with the Cardassians and with that possessive _bastard_ did…" He shot Annika a slightly apologetic glance for his language in relation to her former fiancé but she, like everyone else, smiled at him in approval.

* * *

_U.S.S Voyager_

"They're waking up!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly as he leaned over his two stirring patients, frantically ushering Captain Janeway over, who needed no such encouragement and was at his side in an instant.

"Are they _our_ Seven and Chakotay?" she asked him anxiously as she studied their strained faces.

"We'll know for sure when one of them fully regains consciousness Captain, then we can properly scan their quantum signatures." The Doctor replied.

"How long before they…" The Captain started to ask before being interrupted by a small groan from Seven's biobed.

"Cha…kotay…" She mumbled brokenly, her eyelashes flickering as the Doctor bent over her. "Doctor?" she whispered hoarsely in confusion.

"Hello there." The Doctor greeted her gently, careful not to use her designation quite yet. "Do you know where you are?"

"In Sickbay?" she guessed wearily, sitting up as the Doctor began to scan her, her posture only relaxing slightly when she set eyes on Chakotay. "Captain?" she gasped in relief when she saw Janeway.

"Her quantum signature matches, it's her!" The Doctor confirmed joyfully.

Seven obviously knew what this meant and sagged forward, almost hyperventilating. "I'm back on Voyager?" she whispered disbelievingly.

Janeway smiled at her warmly, squeezing her hand lightly in reassurance. "Yes Seven, you're back home."

Seven sighed heavily in shocked relief before glancing fretfully over at Chakotay. "What about Chakotay, I mean, the Commander? Is he alright?" she asked, her voice thick with some emotion neither the Captain nor the Doctor could indentify.

The Doctor smiled at her kindly. "Why don't you ask him yourself? He's just coming round."

Seven didn't need to be told twice, jumping off her biobed to lean over his as his velvety dark eyes opened, a light smile playing across his lips as he recognised her. "What happened Seven?"

"It seems the crew managed to bring us back to our reality." Seven answered softly.

"Are you sure…" Chakotay began to ask but as he slowly sat up he saw Janeway and the Doctor. "Captain, Doctor, is it really true?" They nodded and he then beamed his full, dimpled smile at them. "You have no idea how great it is to be back here!"

"I can't wait to hear the entire story from both of you, but the Doctor has made it clear that you both need a good night's rest first so I can wait." The Captain replied firmly, her smile one of intense relief. Just as she headed for the door, she turned back, holding two PADDS. "Your…counterparts left messages for you. I think reading them would give you both some closure."

"Thank you Captain." Chakotay replied for both himself and Seven as he saw the former drone take hers with reluctance. When the Captain had gone, he whispered to her, "Are you alright?"

"I hope so." Seven murmured as she looked down at the PADD with guilt ridden eyes, what could her alternate possibly think of her? Swallowing hard, she addressed the Doctor, "May I leave to regenerate now Doctor?"

"Yes, I'd recommend it. Annika could only bring herself to try once." The Doctor replied. Chakotay saw Seven wince at this thoughtless comment but when he reached to soothe her, she backed away from him.

"Goodnight Commander." She mumbled, her face red with embarrassment for a moment before she fled from Sickbay altogether.

**A/n: Our couples may be back home but some issues still linger… I hope you're not fed up with this story quite yet! :D PLEASE REVIEW and remember to check out "Far From Home" too. :D**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/n: I'm back from my trip away, now for a new chapter! Thanks for the good wishes for my interview; I think it went quite well. Also, someone did put up a new C/7 fic while I was away! xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx posted started the seriously dark but wonderful "Cat Knocks Over the Crow's Nest". I recommend it, now on with my chapter. Letters are in **_italics_**.**

_U.S.S Voyager_

An unexpected and involuntary shudder ran over Seven as she entered her Cargo Bay on unsteady legs. The sense of calm and order which usually washed over her when she entered this room, with its awkward collaboration between Federation and Borg technologies which reflected her own dual identity, was conspicuously absent as the large doors slid seamlessly closed behind her. In fact, the unsettled, hollow, feeling in the pit of her stomach only intensified as her eyes did a quick sweep of the room's familiar contents. Despite trying to suppress the agitating urge, she found herself comparing the cavernous, shamelessly utilitarian space with the cosy, familial atmosphere of the house her mind had been pulled from just a short time ago. No, it hadn't just been a house; it had been a _home_… She forcefully stopped that train of thought as her gaze fell to the PADD grasped in her cybernetic hand, the letter from her other self. What was the point in reading it now? They were both back where they belonged, she _shouldn't _feel regretful, and yet… A sigh left her lips as she realised that, as was happening to her with increasing frequency, she couldn't sufficiently analyse, let alone answer, her own mental questions. In a few regular, efficient, strides she reached her console, deciding to focus her mind with work. She shakily set the PADD down on the very edge of the console, almost out of her line of sight but not quite, and tried to occupy herself by running through Astrometrics' reports from the days she had missed.

It wasn't even as if she felt comfortable there, on that over-populated, self-confident world where she'd been, to use Tom Paris' irreverent turn of phrase, "a fish out of water", even within "her" own family. The alternate Earth would've been impossible to adapt to, she knew that, but that knowledge couldn't erase the fact that she no longer felt comfortable with her life here either. She lifted her head up from the console slightly, beginning to despair at her wandering thoughts as she moved to pull her hair, still in the loose style Annika evidently favoured, out of her strained eyes. However, as she lifted her head up to do so, she caught sight of her reflection on the harsh, metallic surface of the console. Not a little resentment and bitterness flared within her as she looked over the familiar face, so similar and yet so different from the one she'd inhabited for the past few days. She had never thought herself to be guilty of vanity; appearance was supposedly irrelevant after all, but now she couldn't ignore the fact that she had been irreversibly scarred, mutilated even, by the Borg. She'd never be as perfect as she could be; Chakotay had probably been disappointed by the sight of her… She swallowed hard and let go of her hair, letting it fall back onto her shoulders before experimentally arranging it to disguise her implants as much as possible. Her brows furrowed into a frown as she immediately dismissed the deception as unsatisfactory, her disfigurement was still obvious, and what was the point in not accepting her situation?" Gritting her teeth, she slowly picked up the PADD, the sudden curiosity gnawing painfully at her gut overwhelming her doubts and fears of her inferiority to her alternate.

She was oddly surprised to find the words on the PADD to be perfectly ordinary type print, somehow she'd expected something more personal from a human, but as she read the words themselves, personality shone through.

_Dear Seven,_

_I hope you don't mind me writing like this, we don't know each other, not in the traditional sense anyway, but somehow after this I feel that after this experience we truly will. That's why I'm writing this letter, to explain what happened in your life while I lived it. I won't lie and say that I wasn't shocked and horrified when I learned what happened to you, what your life has been. I hope you'll forgive me that judgement, just I forgive you for everything you had to do while in my body. I now realise that you've built up a good life for yourself here, with wonderful people around you and I think you should be proud of that, I am._

_The Doctor may not have told you this, although I have a feeling he will to try to convince you, but the emotional fail-safe activated while I was here. I was angry with you then, I didn't understand, didn't want to understand, why you'd come so far in reclaiming your humanity only to deny yourself the most vital part of it. Looking at it from my perspective, I couldn't understand, but when I saw your memories, of fear and guilt and loneliness, I knew why. All I can tell you is that those bad emotions might feel worse from time to time, but it's the love and happiness that helps you to recover from that. Please don't deny yourself the best things about life. I think I was, up to a point, before I came here, Voyager, and you, have taught me so many things. Remember that I'm grateful to you for that._

_Be happy,_

_Annika_

Seven blinked rapidly, rubbing away the moistness which had gathered in her eyes as she set the PADD back down. Her gaze then fell on her regeneration alcove, making her heart tighten. Annika must've been terrified of going in there if she had even a modicum of humanoids' natural fear of the Borg. Seven couldn't help but respect her courage and magnanimity, being trapped in a different universe, in a drone's body, can't have been easy, yet she still wrote a kind letter, utterly free of bitterness, in an attempt to assuage Seven's guilt. Seven wasn't sure if Annika had been successful in that, was she proud of what she had achieved? Obviously not, a tint voice in her mind whispered, or else you wouldn't be clinging to something which keeps you fundamentally Borg. Seven cringed at the path of her own thoughts, her limbs suddenly unbelievably heavy with physical and emotional exhaustion. The practical side of her brain began to kick in, she should regenerate before deciding anything. She glanced down at her attire, a comfortably loose grey knit jumper and a pair of traditional Earth trousers she believed were colloquially referred to as "jeans". Not optimally suited for work perhaps, but fine for a few hours of peaceful regeneration. Happy to delay more weighty decisions for the time being, she stepped into the alcove, relief filling her as the click of activation plunged her mind into unconsciousness.

* * *

The first thing she was aware of was the sound of a rhythmical, almost pulsing, ticking near her ear. It dimly reminded her of an antique clock, and for a moment she listened to it contentedly, not realising that her fingers were dancing along in time to the ticking. Then, the darkness lifted from her eyes and she saw the source of the sound, a metronome. Her stomach twisted in panic at the sight of it, at the realisation that she was sitting at a piano. No, not this, not again! The music her fingers had unconsciously been creating sped up, becoming more frantic. She felt a desperate need to outdo the metronome, to defeat it somehow. Sweat trickled down her brow as achingly familiar footsteps began to approach her from behind. Knowing what was coming, she banged on the keys further, brutalising the Liszt piano concerto she had once been so fond of, trying to drown out the footsteps but they only grew louder before stopping abruptly beside her, a cold hand twisting her body around with ease. The music stopped abruptly, although the metronome continued on, as she faced her tormentor. A drone, a tall, dark skinned male with the remnants of a red uniform still clinging to his implant riddled body and a single distinctive blue tattoo above one eye. Suddenly screams were being ripped from her chest, drowning out even the metronome as she screamed until her lungs throbbed in complaint. The drone watched her expressionlessly, the blank look in his single visible dark eye causing her to break out in shivers and wrench her gaze away. Then, standing just behind him she saw two other drones watching the scene, another male and a female, her _parents_. This revelation choked even her screams and triggered her flight complex. She tried to stand up and run into the darkness but the first male drone clamped powerful hands down on her shoulders and leaned into her, their lips somehow meeting in an explosion of passion. She eventually wrenched her face away, tears now streaking her cheeks, but as her panicky eyes risked looking at him again she gasped as the implants began to fade rapidly away from his face until they were completely gone, leaving his strikingly handsome face untainted. "What…" She gasped out, now seeing that the metal had also receded away from her parents and that they were both smiling widely at her.

He smiled at her now too, his smile as warm and gentle as it was lovingly joyful. "It's time to wake up now honey." He told her in a deep purr of a whisper.

Seven woke up with a jolt, stumbling blindly out of her alcove as the usual chorus to her breathless gasps intoned, "Regeneration cycle incomplete."

* * *

The Doctor jumped to attention the moment Seven of Nine strode into Sickbay, turning off the opera he'd been humming to as he read her tense but otherwise unreadable expression. "You're supposed to be regenerating…" He began to chastise her with a small but overly dramatic sigh, but changed tact when that got no response. "You've just missed the Commander, he only left for his quarters a couple of minutes ago, I'm sure you could catch up with him…"

Seven was mildly irritated by the knowing look in his eye as he said this, but dismissed it by bluntly announcing, with barely a quiver of fear in her tone, "Doctor, I wish to have my fail-safe removed as soon as possible."

**A/n: Wow, I didn't expect this to develop the way it did, I didn't intend Seven to be the focus of this chapter but that's how it's turned out. I'll definitely look in on the other universe in the next chapter, I promise! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you think! :D**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/n: I'm so sorry for not posting anything since Tuesday; I've been exhausted over the past few days and just haven't felt up to writing much. I hope this chapter makes up for it. My better news is that I've been accepted to the university in Wales I was interviewed for, thanks to everyone who sent me encouraging messages about that process. **

_AU EARTH_

"…and then they both just lost consciousness simultaneously." Astrid sighed as she finished explaining what she knew about Seven and Commander Chakotay's time in their reality, flashing a weak smile at her stoic faced sister, "You know what happened after that, since it was the two of you who woke up, thank God."

Annika tried her best to return the smile, but the strain her emotions were under showed clearly on her face, "Yes, thank God." She mumbled, shooting Chakotay an uneasy glance, he hadn't said anything during Astrid's explanation; any turmoil within him was hidden from her. She found that being shut out from him in this way disturbed her, made her feel anxious even among her family… Seeing that her parents and sister were all watching her intently, obviously hurt by her muted reaction, she recollected herself, reaching forward to squeeze Astrid's quivering hand while meeting her parents' gazes seriously, "It's wonderful to be home, you have no idea how…" She trailed off, blinking the tears away from her eyes, "I was starting to think I'd never be back here." She admitted, head bowed and so missing Chakotay's understanding expression, "But…" She continued, her voice brightening, "Everything worked out, thanks to the Voyager crew and to all of you…" She took care to include Tom and B'Elanna as she looked gratefully around the room. "If none of you had believed Seven and Chakotay's story, we'd be in a lot of trouble right now…" She saw Chakotay stiffen at her words and had to fight the urge to interrogate him about what was bothering him even as her mother spoke.

"It was hard to believe…" Erin conceded awkwardly, sensing the sudden tension that electrified the air between her daughter and Chakotay, "I didn't want to believe it, I still don't…" She whispered painfully, leaning into Magnus' shoulder for comfort as she thought of Seven's revelations, "…but every parent helps their children even if they're not completely in the loop about what's wrong."

"Your mother is right Annika." Magnus agreed, "You don't need to thank us." He cleared the lump in his throat. Still consumed with guilt about Seven, it upset him to hear his Annika thanking him for anything at the moment. He tapped Annika's shoulder when he realised her attention was wandering from him, "I'm sorry my love, but I wouldn't say our troubles with this are completely over. The authorities have announced an amnesty for all Maquis now that the Cardassians have declared war but…"

"Seven still helped us break out of jail, right Tom?" Chakotay broke in suddenly, his voice terse.

Tom shifted uneasily at the colossal weight the other man had placed on the question, "Well, yes she did. She shut down every computer in the jail and then blew up part of it…" He saw both Annika and Chakotay pale and backtracked, "In her defence, the block she blew up was empty and ready to get demolished anyway and it did serve as a rather good distraction…" He chuckled to himself nervously, "It was actually funny to see the looks on those Cardassians faces…"

"It's not funny if they can identify Annika as the one who…." Chakotay snapped angrily, rapidly losing control.

"Don't worry." Astrid said quickly, "Seven told me that she disabled every camera, even the ones not linked to the computer mainframe. The fugitive report even said that there were no known accomplices…"

"And it's going to stay that way." Chakotay concluded heavily as he stood up, turning sharply to face Tom and B'Elanna as he did so while rubbing his throbbing head, "We're going to hand ourselves in as soon as possible. If we do that we'll probably be able to avoid dragging Annika or anyone else into this."

It took a few seconds for the shock and disbelief in Annika's mind to surrender to the waves of hot, fear fuelled anger which overwhelmed her as both Tom and B'Elanna nodded solemnly. "I'm already involved in this Chakotay!" she reminded him sharply, but winced and changed tact as he flinched, "Please don't do anything rash, we'll come up with something…" She pleaded, her tone becoming increasingly desperate as his expression remained stonily determined.

"Doing the right thing isn't rash Annika." He told her firmly, avoiding the hurt and betrayal which instantly filled her eyes by leaving the room before she could come up with a suitable retort.

Magnus tentatively grasped his daughter's hand as her entire body shook with silent sobs of frustration and fear. "He's right honey. He just doesn't want you blamed for all this…"

"_Neither _of us have anything to be blamed for!" Annika choked out, wrenching her hand away. "I need to make him understand that…" She whispered brokenly, a deep frown creasing her brow as she struggled to hold back the tears which were now beginning to flow in earnest. "Why…why does he have to be so damned…_noble _all the time?" she asked bitterly.

B'Elanna sighed regretfully as she put a friendly hand on the other woman's shoulder. "It can be infuriating, but remember that you love that about him most of the time." She reminded her softly, smiling as Annika gave a reluctant nod, "Both of you need to calm down and then you can talk. We won't be leaving until then."

* * *

Chakotay leaned heavily over the Hansens' kitchen sink as he tried to calm himself. He'd known his decision wouldn't go down well with Annika, and if he'd been an adult about all this he would've explained his reasoning to her privately, but he'd taken the coward's way out by just throwing it at her. She had a right to be hurt and angry, although it upset him that, after all they'd been through; she didn't understand why he had to do it…

"Chakotay?" Her voice, hoarse from crying but resolutely steady, made him jump violently but he found himself unable to turn around to face her.

"Please understand Annika, it's the only way…" He whispered, his hands clenching around the granite countertop until his knuckles turned white. If he looked at her again, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to go through with leaving her.

She surprised him by walking right up behind him and turning him around by the shoulders, obviously not all the strength he'd seen on Voyager was deprived from Borg implants. "I _do_ understand…" She murmured emphatically, "But I also know it's not the only way."

Chakotay stepped back from her. "Do you want to go to jail Annika? For conducting a jailbreak or hiding fugitives like you are now?" he asked her in disbelief.

Annika grimaced, tugging anxiously at her long hair. "Okay, it was unrealistic of me to just envisage you staying here but I didn't have much of a chance to consider everything." She conceded, "But now I have. According to Tom and B'Elanna, you'd already been signed over to the Cardassians when you escaped, you ran out of one of _their _shuttles. That means you escaped from Cardassian custody and now that the Federation is at war with the Empire their warrants are irrelevant!" She flushed in embarrassment at her wording, some of Seven must've rubbed off on her, but quickly recovered as she felt Chakotay's searching gaze on her. "As for your supposed crimes against the Federation, the amnesty covers all members of the Maquis." A sigh of relief left her lips as she felt him relax slightly, her words sinking in. "I'll come with you and the three of you can report to the police and repeat everything I've just said." She told him warmly, placing her hands on his chest as she looked pleadingly up at him.

Chakotay gripped her hands, reluctantly holding them away from him. "What if your plan doesn't work? I'll be back in jail. You don't deserve…"

"We've been through that already." Annika interrupted, "I don't care about that…" Her vision suddenly swam with fresh tears, "I love you…"

The barrier Chakotay had put up imploded and he cupped her face in his warm hands. "I love you enough to wish that you didn't darling…" He murmured painfully.

"Don't say that…" Annika choked out, a traitorous sob catching in her throat. "It's far too late…."

"I know." Chakotay replied, swallowing hard before giving in to his strongest impulse and kissing her softly, keeping their foreheads pressed together when they paused for breath. "I still don't want you to come with us, it's dangerous…"

Annika pressed her damp face into the crook of his neck. "Then give me tonight…please." She murmured brokenly against his warm skin, "Go in the morning." She requested softly as she began to bury kisses in his neck and jaw.

Chakotay answered with a moan he couldn't quite hold back and began to return and intensify her caresses, entranced for a few minutes before a thought flashed through his brain and he pulled back breathlessly, "What about your family? What will they think…"

Annika's flushed face was sweetly unconcerned. "They know how I feel." She told him confidently, sighing in relief as she felt him smiling against her mouth as he pulled her into the tightest of embraces.

**A/n: I hope you don't mind this being an AU chapter in its entirety, but I get the impression that everyone likes them as much as I enjoy writing them. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/n: This chapter is for lisac1965 as a thank you for starting a new C/7 story, "Finding One's Heart". I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did that new story. :D**

_U.S.S Voyager_

Chakotay irritably shifted around his bed in search of a remotely comfortable position but although every nerve and muscle in his body was crying out for sleep, obviously his alternate had been just as sleep deprived as he had been during this whole surreal experience, his mind simply refused to surrender to unconsciousness. Whenever he approached drowsiness thoughts of Seven would promptly jolt him into alertness again. Rationally he knew he should be less worried about her than he had been on the mirror Earth, but his feelings were disobeying reason. She'd been in control then, had been able to push any wayward painful emotion into the background under the crushing weight of practicalities such as breaking him out of jail, searching for a way home or convincing her parents to assist them. Now none of those distractions were available to her, or to him for that matter, and they had to face what they'd been through. What had they been through? Certainly something which should have bound them together, but he couldn't suppress the fear that she'd avoid him now and go back to hiding behind the indoctrinated rules of the Borg…

He groaned to himself and heavily rolled over, intending to bury his face in the pillow to try and block out the memory of Seven's face as that deplorable Trill backhanded her. He knew that wringing that drunken woman-beater's neck would probably have provided all of the emotional catharsis he needed, but he'd never get the chance now… To his surprise his side struck the pointy edge of a PADD, discarded thoughtlessly on one side of the large bed hours before, rather than the accepting familiarity of his mattress. An uneasy sigh left his throat as he lifted it up to eye level, it was the letter written to him by his counterpart. Curiosity gnawed relentlessly at his gut as his finger hovered around the button but doubt forced him to pause. What would his other self, a man who had made very different choices from himself, sticking loyally to the principles of a Maquis and paying the price of his freedom, think of him who in the back of his own mind, had sold out Maquis values for Federation security and a trip home? He hated his own fears and rapidly quelled them, pressing the button to show the letter on screen. I did what I thought was right for my own set of circumstances, how could he judge that? He reassured himself as he began to read:

_Chakotay,_

_I hope you understand my reasons for writing to you, it was actually Annika's idea but I agree with her, we have some issues we need to air out, as my ethics teacher at the Academy, Commander Lovik, would've said. I wouldn't lie to you and say I was pleased to wake up as the First Officer of a Starfleet ship, I gladly left that part of my life behind a long time ago. I know now that you thought you had too. I want you to know that I don't blame you for entering this alliance, it kept your crew alive in the most impossible of circumstances. I know that you probably feel some guilt for not being able to continue to fight the Cardassians, I feel guilty when I see people alive on this ship who I saw die in that battle, I suppose that guilt is something we'll both have to carry with us for the rest of our lives. I wish you a safe trip home and a happy life. I intend to have mine. _

_I have one request of you, please look after Seven of Nine and I'll do the same for Annika. _

_Chakotay_

Chakotay let out a tense breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding as he read the last sentence, a small smile playing knowingly across his lips. Yes, the writer of this letter was definitely more like him than not. It was almost like reading the reply to his own thoughts and suddenly he was overwhelmed with regret that he hadn't taken the time to write something down about his experience for his other self to take comfort from. Although, he acknowledged with a soft chuckle, when the other Chakotay heard from the Hansens what he'd been doing he'd probably understand why he'd hadn't had the time. His eyes swept over the more complex emotions expressed in the main paragraph of the letter, filing them away for later, and instead focused on that taunting final sentence. What was he doing moping around in here when he could be talking it out with the only person who could possibly understand? "Computer, locate Seven of Nine." He commanded swiftly.

The Computer didn't seem to register his impatience, instead answering ponderously after a few long seconds, "Seven of Nine is in Sickbay."

"Sickbay?" Chakotay echoed in bemusement. That was the last place he'd seen her and the Doctor hadn't picked up on anything then. "What is she doing there?" he muttered anxiously as he sprang up from his bed to head for the door.

"That information is not on file." The Computer intoned seriously.

"I know that!" Chakotay snapped in exasperation as he left hurriedly for Sickbay.

* * *

"Well, according to all these scans the operation has been a complete success." The Doctor told Seven with a relieved and satisfied smile as he lowered the tricorder away from his patient. "But the most important thing is how _you _feel about it…" He continued quickly as he peered into her pale face, concerned by her lack of response.

As if able to sense his unease, Seven's tiredly bowed head snapped up abruptly to meet his gaze. "I am functional Doctor." She assured him listlessly.

"You considered yourself _functional _before." The Doctor reminded her with a frown. "Are you feeling nauseous or dizzy?"

"I have a slight headache." Seven reluctantly admitted, her eyes narrowed defensively.

The Doctor patted her shoulder sympathetically. "That's expected, what you've just been through could easily be categorised as brain surgery after all. Just don't do anything strenuous for few days and make sure to have full regeneration cycles for at least a week." He smiled at her encouragingly when she flinched at the mention of regeneration, thinking she was just irritated by the amount of work she'd miss. "Don't worry, I'm sure Commander Chakotay would be very happy to reduce your hours on the rota for a few days…"

Seven instantly stiffened as if she'd been hit by an electric shock. "I do not intend to ask for any special consideration from the Commander Doctor, he has more to concern himself with than arranging the rota to my advantage." She told him sharply through gritted teeth.

The Doctor backed away slightly, startled by her heated reaction. "Alright, it was just a suggestion…" He watched as she fell silent again, obviously lost in thought, and sighed. It would seem that her increased emotional range was already making itself apparent…

Both of them jumped as Sickbay's doors opened. The Doctor, with his back to the doorway, thought he could make a pretty good guess as to who it was by seeing the way Seven's face blushed brightly for a moment, then drained to a deathly pallor, fear evident in her eyes. "What can I do for you Commander?" he asked pleasantly as he turned to face Chakotay, aware of Seven shifting on the biobed to hide behind him as best she could.

"I was actually wondering if I could speak to Seven alone for a few minutes Doctor." Chakotay replied politely, his stance rigid but his eyes peering around the Doctor in an attempt to meet Seven's gaze.

The Doctor almost answered that he'd probably need more than a few minutes to talk Seven round, but wisely decided against as he stepped aside. "Of course Commander, be my guest. She's fine now." Despite privately wanting to witness how his pupil coped with this, he fought the urge and called to the Computer, "Computer, deactivate EMH."

Seven couldn't stop herself from cringing shyly as the Doctor disappeared, leaving them alone, but guilt prickled her when she saw that he'd noticed her reluctance, hurt flashing through his deeply dark eyes. "What is it you wish to talk about Commander?" she asked softly, avoiding his gaze scrupulously.

He stepped closer, a relieved smile breaking across his face as she broke the silence. "Everything." He admitted honestly, wincing sheepishly when she only bit her lip in reply. "Are you okay? Did something happen with your implants, while we were gone I mean?"

Seven shook her head rigorously as she slid off the biobed onto her feet. "Annika took good care of me if that's what you mean…" Chakotay saw her press her hand unconsciously to her cheek and knew she must have been thinking of the slap Annika would have woken up with the pain of. "It was a long-standing issue the Doctor has now corrected." She mumbled, turning her face away from him.

"That's good." Chakotay responded warmly before the frustration he'd been fighting with won control of his mouth. "Why won't you look at me Seven?" he asked painfully.

Seven's breath caught in her throat. "I…" She started to deny before seeing his expression harden. "I'm quite sure you find my appearance a…shock to you right now…" She mumbled in explanation, trying to walk past him as she did so but he grabbed her arm, gently but firmly pulled her around to face him.

"A shock?" Chakotay repeated blankly, "Why would I be shocked by anything about you?"

Seven blushed at the implied intimacy of his statement. "I am Borg again…" She explained lamely.

He stared at her disbelievingly for a few seconds. "Wait, this is about your implants?" Her eyes glistened enough to answer the question. "Oh honey, you're still beautiful…" He reassured her as gently as he could.

Seven swallowed hard, touched by his words in spite of herself. After all, no one had ever told her she was beautiful before… Her doubts recovered and she pulled back from him, "Not just that, I am undeniably Borg here. I _assimilated_ people! I won't be forgiven! How can you possibly care about me…"

She gasped in surprise as he cut her off by pulling her tightly against him, their bodies moulding together, and kissing her softly on the lips. "Does that answer your question?" he murmured huskily as their lips parted briefly.

"Yes…" Seven whispered before bringing her face back to his for another, longer, kiss.

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/n: I apologise for the lack of updates this week, I was studying for the Sociology exam I sat yesterday. I hope this chapter makes up for it. :D**

_AU Earth_

Annika breathed a dreamy sigh as she sleepily rolled over in her bed, expecting to be able to huddle against a warm body as she had throughout the night but she was instead confronted with cool, empty sheets. Feeling cheated, and then fearful, her eyes shot open to see a half dressed Chakotay sitting on the edge of the bed, his gaze distant. She couldn't stop a sigh of relief leaving her as she slowly sat up, wrapped in the comfort of the duvet, he hadn't disappeared to hand himself in. "Are you okay?" she murmured anxiously, reaching out to stroke his bare arm.

He laughed softly, "I'm the best I've been in a while honey." He reassured her gently with an affectionate smile. "How'd you sleep?"

Annika gave him a shy but warm smile. "Great."

"Me too." He agreed before his eyes took on a slightly teasing glint. "Your bed is a little small though, must be to make room for all these trophies."

This time Annika's cheeks flushed with true embarrassment as she looked around her childhood room with new eyes. Flickering old holo-posters of her teenage idols were scattered over the walls, along with frayed rosettes, family and prom photos. A small trophy or two did sit on her chest of drawers with other knick-knacks. "God, I keep telling Mama to clear this place out!" she exclaimed in mortification.

Chakotay chuckled as he jumped to the room's defence. "I think it's cute, you're lucky to still have all of these things you know."

Annika belatedly remembered that his own childhood home had been destroyed by the Cardassians and bowed her head slightly in shame. "I know." She admitted, "It's just a little embarrassing. I don't think I've ever had _any _guys up here before, I was scared of Papa's wrath…" She smiled ruefully to herself.

"Well then, I'd better make a run for it." Chakotay joked weakly, running a strained hand through his hair as Annika tried to suppress a grimace. "I've got a lot to do this morning…"

"Yeah." Annika conceded, going against her words by sliding on to his lap, preventing him from leaving. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

She felt him tense underneath her. "Yes, very sure." He whispered firmly.

An anxious, dissatisfied sigh left Annika's throat but she otherwise remained silent as she leaned against his bare, sculpted chest. They'd already had this argument, and although she'd won a reprieve last night, she knew she wouldn't be right, or able to now. "Good Luck then." She finally managed to mumble, swallowing back a lump of frightened tears.

Chakotay replied by giving her a grateful, lingering kiss on the forehead, pulling her more securely onto him and rubbing slow, reassuring circles on her back. "You never told me how you won all these awards." He asked softly, changing the subject completely.

Annika sniffed as she looked around, trying to remember herself. "Mostly through ballet and figure skating I think, although there might be a couple of math marathon certificates hiding somewhere." She answered in a modest tone.

Chakotay gave an impressed whistle. "I'm going to have to see some of these achievements for myself someday."

Annika tilted her head up to kiss him softly on the mouth. "I'd like that." She agreed simply.

* * *

Chakotay descended the main stairwell of the Hansen house sometime later, alone. He spotted Tom and B'Elanna standing in the hallway, whispering together with their hands tentatively linked, and smiled to himself. Maybe Annika was right and something would happen between them here as it had on Voyager… At that moment Tom noticed him and frowned curiously as he asked, "Where's Annika?"

Chakotay stiffened. "She's not coming." He replied shortly.

B'Elanna's eyebrows arched incredulously, "Does _she _know that? I doubt she'll be happy about…"

"She agreed…eventually." Chakotay told her tersely, anger entering his tone as they continued to look doubtful. "I don't want her involved in this; she's nothing to do with my past mistakes…"

Tom snorted, "Give her the benefit of the doubt; she may not be involved in your past but certainly in your present and future! It's not as if you spent last night in the guest room…" He hurriedly trailed off as Magnus suddenly entered the room, looking at him darkly. "Good Morning Mr Hansen, sir…"

Magnus just grunted in reply, his eyes boring into Chakotay. "Are you going through with meeting Starfleet?"

Chakotay nodded. "Yes sir, the three of us were just about to leave." He read Magnus' questioning expression and added levelly, "Annika is staying here. I have to deal with this on my own."

Relief and a new respect for the younger man immediately filled Magnus' eyes. "Good." He said warmly before adding somewhat gruffly, "I'll drive you into New Haven, there's a branch of Starfleet there."

* * *

Of course, the provincial force at New Haven couldn't handle such a big decision as extending the Maquis amnesty to three by now well known fugitives, and so within two hours Chakotay, Tom and B'Elanna found themselves pleading their case in San Francisco. "Well, I must say it improves your chances, handing yourselves in peacefully like this, but tell me why you think you're all eligible for the amnesty." Javier Ruiz, Deputy Attorney General of Earth, asked.

Chakotay, who'd been appointed spokesperson while they waited, answered as confidently as he could; thinking back to Annika's impassioned speech the night before. "We escaped from _Cardassian _custody, not the Federation." He pointed out, "We'd been officially transferred to them beforehand, so that they could carry out our…death sentence." He couldn't stop a note of bitterness from entering his voice as he uttered the last two words, but remained perfectly calm. "All we want now is the chance to be full and free citizens."

"You have that right." Ruiz admitted, "We're certainly not honouring Cardassian warrants at the moment, and I'll admit, off the record, that the Maquis have proved their point in some ways, although terrorism for any cause cannot be condoned."

"We're not asking for medals of valour…" Tom whispered out of Ruiz's eyeshot.

Chakotay rephrased that sentiment. "We don't expect that in any way."

"Good." Ruiz replied before breathing a sigh as he read the PADD in his hand, "Well, you all have good prison records, although there's the thorny issue of what happened to that jail the day you escaped…"

"We had nothing to do with that." Chakotay assured him quickly, "We just took advantage of the situation."

Ruiz laughed, "Oh I know. Experts have already agreed that no one in that prison had the skills to fry that computer network so completely. They're working on the theory that it was some sort of Cardassian virus to disable our systems…" Chakotay had to bite back a laugh, knowing that the true perpetrator would have been amused at her handiwork being mistaken for that of Cardassians. Ruiz finally gave them a smile. "I warn you that it'll need to go up to my boss, but I think you're off the hook. Thank the Cardassians for declaring war."

* * *

_U.S.S Voyager_

Chakotay chuckled knowingly as he entered Astrometrics to find Seven already bent over her console. "How did I know you'd be in here I wonder?" he teased.

"Because you have observed my habits over time?" Seven suggested drily without looking up, only turning to face him when he laughed. "Good morning." She greeted pleasantly, her gaze and smile shyly tentative.

"That's probably it, a lot of observation…" Chakotay replied warmly, calmly closing the gap between them when he saw she was nervous and giving her a gentle kiss. "Good morning to you too."

Seven felt her cheeks flame, her mind jumping back to the more fierce kisses of the evening before in Sickbay. "Yes, very." She agreed, swallowing to wet her suddenly dry throat. "What brings you here, other than a desire to know my current location?" she asked with a trademark quirk of her brow.

Chakotay grinned at her, enjoying her flirtatious teasing, but quickly became more serious. "The Captain is holding a meeting with the senior officers to debrief us."

Seven paled slightly, her lips curling uneasily. "We must discuss _all_ of it?"

Chakotay gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "I'm sure they'd understand if you didn't want to talk about what happened with the Hansens. I know that was very difficult for you…"

Seven nodded slowly, "Not only that…" She muttered, now avoiding his gaze.

"What then?" he asked in bemusement, understanding dawning when she blushed furiously, a novel sight he was still getting used to. "If you're nervous about telling them about…" He cleared his throat, "…our relationship, then that's okay. We can wait a little while…" He knew better than to feel hurt by her fear, as much as they'd been through together, she was still new to this and he didn't want to rush her.

Seven interrupted him sharply, "We can't! Having an undisclosed relationship with another crewmember puts others in danger if our judgement is threatened by emotion…" She began to rant.

Chakotay frowned questioningly down at her. "Seven, honey, have you been reading the Starfleet Personnel Manual or something?" he asked incredulously, sighing when she nodded. "And how close to reality do you judge its rules?" he murmured softly as his fingers fondly brushed her warm cheek.

Seven sighed heavily. "Even less reliable than the Doctor's social lessons." She admitted with a sheepish smile.

"I think we'd be better to trust our own judgements then." Chakotay advised.

"Yes." Seven answered after a deep breath, stepping towards the doorway with his hand in hers. "Let's go, we are late for our own debriefing."

* * *

"It's good of you to join us." The Captain teased with a wide smile as Seven and Chakotay entered the Briefing Room together.

"We apologise Captain." Seven responded regretfully.

"No, after what you've been through I can be lenient with your timekeeping for a couple of days." The Captain assured her kindly.

"Still, I think we should begin the debriefing." Tuvok remarked levelly from his chair.

Harry rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Yeah, tell us what was different in this other reality!"

"Before that, Seven and I have something we'd like to say." Chakotay's hand closed around Seven's once more. "We're…"

"Together." B'Elanna finished, "We guessed." She explained when she saw them both gape at her.

"How exactly?" Seven asked tightly, shooting the Doctor an accusing glance, who immediately shook his head.

Tom chuckled, "Let's just say your alternate selves are romantic souls, so we knew there could be an attraction there."

Captain Janeway smiled at the stunned faces of her First Officer and her protégé. "I think we'd better explain what happened _here _while you were gone before we deal with the events of alternate realities."

**A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I think this story still has an epilogue left in it…**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/n: This week has been good for C/7 stories, battlevalkyrie (formerly Morrigan Wildwood) updated "Meant to Be" as well starting a new fic, "Timeline" which I think is great! "The Borg Files" by khrom has an interesting plot and is slightly C/7 too. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter as much as I've enjoyed reading those! :D**

_AU Earth_

"Annika, Annika!" Annika Hansen's eyes fluttered reluctantly open at the sound of the by turns exasperated or irate voice. Confusion gripped her chest for a moment as wakefulness descended on her and she realised she was in an unfamiliar room but the memory of wide soon brought a wide, dreamy smile to her lips which the person who had woken her noticed with a roll of her blue eyes, "Are you finally realising it's a little unwise to sleep in on your wedding day? I'm almost ready for goodness' sake and you haven't even started…"

Annika sat up in the hotel room's bed, unable to restrain a wry, teasing smile at her sister's flustered state. There was no doubting that Astrid looked gorgeous in the flowing chiffon halter neck dress she'd chosen for her role as maid of honour. Its sea foam green colour highlighted her peaches and cream complexion as well as her blonde hair and blue eyes. However, the ensemble lost some of its impressiveness in the fact that sections of her hair were still captured by hair clips; ready to be attacked by the hairdryer Astrid brandished in one hand, her overflowing make up bag in the other. As well as that, her bare feet peeked out from below the dress' hem, revealing that nail polish had only been applied to five of her ten toes. "Yeah…" Annika commented, eyebrows raised, "You're totally ready, no arguments there."

Astrid blushed slightly before playfully throwing a cushion at her sister as payback. "Okay, okay I get your point, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be frantic right now…" She responded as Annika slipped out of bed and headed calmly for the bathroom, "Traditionally, aren't brides supposed to be nervous as hell before the wedding? I think anyone would call you serene."

Annika smiled at her sister. Serene? She had to be joking! Anticipation was running through her like an electric current, the feeling was somewhere between exhilarating and terrifying, but actual nerves were the opposite of what she was experiencing. "I don't have anything to be nervous about." She told Astrid honestly, a warm glow filling her being, "I've dreamed of this for a long time, remember?"

Astrid's teasing gave way to a soft seriousness. "I do." She murmured, giving her sister's hand an affectionate squeeze before her brow furrowed thoughtfully, "Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to get a little extra sleep, it's not like you'll be getting much tonight…" She remarked suggestively.

Annika's lips twisted upwards coyly even as she blushed. "Let's hope you're right about that."

* * *

Annika swallowed nervously as her second bridesmaid, B'Elanna Torres, lowered the make up brush she'd been using on her with the steady hand characteristic of a born engineer and gave a satisfied sigh as she stepped back. "Chakotay's not going to know what hit him." The half Klingon proclaimed confidently as she assessed her handiwork.

"Do you think so?" Annika murmured as she shifted apprehensively in front of the floor length mirror that had been procured for her benefit.

"I _know_ so." B'Elanna answered firmly as she looked at her friend, "You know that he can never take his eyes off you and he certainly won't even consider it today." She reassured her gently, "He loves you Annika."

Annika felt the knot of tension in her chest unravel as her own belief in that fact powerfully reasserted itself. "I know." She replied, "Thank God, I love him too much to be happy otherwise." She admitted with a small smile, her body straightening in new pride and confidence which improved her reflection even more. Her wedding dress really was the most beautiful outfit she believed she'd ever see. It was similar in style to both B'Elanna and Astrid's dresses, being made up mostly of chiffon and wonderfully cool. As she took in the way the white material floated over her, showing off every attraction of her figure without being severe, and felt the warm July air of California on her skin even indoors, the thought of the exquisitely crafted but strict, suffocating dress she'd considered for her aborted wedding made her shudder. Everything had truly fallen into place, even if it had taken a series of extraordinary events to bring it all together. This thought of the past made her glance at B'Elanna again, "You look beautiful too B'Elanna, Tom will be just as stunned as Chakotay I'm sure."

B'Elanna looked down at what she was wearing, a dress nearly identical to Astrid's except that it was strapless, yet it was equally flattering. "Maybe, I'll believe it when I see it." She replied with a warm laugh.

The sound of the door opening behind them made both women turn around to see Erin Hansen standing in the threshold, looking resplendent in the summer dress she'd chosen as her mother of the bride outfit. "Oh Annika…" she exclaimed softly at sight of her daughter, her voice thick with emotion as she stepped forward to embrace her. "You look beautiful sweetheart, like an angel." She murmured as she pulled reluctantly out of the loving hug.

"Thank you Mama." Annika replied, feeling her own happy tears form in her eyes as she saw joyful ones glisten in her mother's. "Do you think I'm ready to go?"

Erin meticulously arranged the shoulder straps on her daughter's dress, which were dusted with sparkling details, the only embellishment on the otherwise simple dress, more levelly on her shoulders, then took a single strand of golden hair which had escaped the loose ponytail which fell down Annika's neck and back, held by a single white ribbon, and twisted it around her finger into a ringlet before letting it go. "Perfect." She concluded proudly as she brushed Annika's cheek, "It all worked out for the best didn't it my love?"

"Definitely." Annika agreed in a heartfelt whisper as she gently hugged Erin one more time.

"Oh, I forget one thing…" Erin muttered as she hastily wiped her eyes before presenting her daughter with her bouquet, a fragrant and colourful mix of flowers. "They're from our garden at home, just like you asked for."

Annika gratefully took the simple bunch and took a moment to inhale the nostalgic scent, thinking of her childhood in the same garden where these flowers had grown. She turned her gaze to look resolutely at her mother and both of her bridesmaids, "I think I've kept Chakotay waiting for long enough now, don't you?"

* * *

The journey to the venue, the family home of Tom Paris that had been happily offered by his parents in gratitude to the couple who had helped to reunite them with their only son, was a short one. Still, it felt like an eternity to Annika and she was overwhelmed with relief as the car came to a stop and its door was opened for her by none other than her beloved father. "Papa…" She whispered thickly in greeting as he took her arm in his and led her towards the house. She couldn't stop the tears from threatening to flow at the sight of his proud smile, although from his tight grip he was obviously not ready to let go of her quite yet.

"Now, none of that angel." He chastised gently as they walked together through the house, wiping her few tears away with his calloused hand. "You don't want that fiancé of yours thinking you're upset today of all days, do you?"

Annika smiled at his tactic even as she replied emphatically, "No, of course not!" She laughed at herself softly before looking at him seriously, "This is the happiest day of my life Papa."

He gave a knowing chuckle, "Just wait until you see your first child. That will rank pretty close my dear."

Just then, as they reached the patio doors which opened out onto the private stretch of beach which was reached by a small flight of stone steps from the house, and was where the ceremony and reception would actually take place, Annika's flower girl and page boy made their presence known. "You're finally here!" Ciara exclaimed excitedly, snatching up her basket of flowers and taking the page boy, her younger brother Brendan, by the hand to lead him out onto the beach with her while Astrid and B'Elanna laughingly followed with final encouraging smiles at the bride.

Annika smiled as she heard the guests' voices travelling on the wind, oohing and ahhing over Kathryn Janeway's sweet children. She was glad that she and Chakotay had made the effort to acquaint themselves with their world's version of Voyager's Captain, while they knew that the closeness that had existed there wouldn't come to pass in the same way, Annika was still glad to count the charismatic, intelligent woman as her friend. Magnus interrupted her thoughts with a squeeze of her hand, "It's our turn now love, are you ready?"

Annika smiled at him confidently, "I've never been more ready."

**A/n: Okay, I decided not to finish this story quite yet, I think I'll aim for 30 chapters. What can I say, happy endings sometimes deserve more than one chapter, and I've got two main couples in this fic! PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/n: Hi everyone! I had a good time on holiday, despite the rain, now I'm back to writing again. Thanks to MissSarahG1 for updating her C/7 fic "Natural Adaption" twice while I was away.**

_AU Earth_

Chakotay glanced furtively up the makeshift aisle, really a well worn path of sand dusted paving stones that trailed lazily down the incline from the Paris' backdoor to the private beach enclave where he stood waiting, for the fifth time in as many minutes. Despite his attempts to be subtle about it, many of the guests sitting restively in the rows of seats either side of the aisle chuckled softly or winked at him, they knew exactly who he was looking out for. He jumped slightly as Tom Paris, his best man, spoke up beside him, "Nervous Chakotay?" he queried, his blue eyes twinkling with teasing merriment.

"Impatient." Chakotay answered firmly with a small smirk.

Tom laughed good-naturedly before replying in a knowingly reassuring tone, "If I know Annika, and I'm pretty sure I do by now, she's just as impatient as you are." He smiled to himself, "How else do you think she and B'Elanna became friends? They like to get things done."

Chakotay felt his eyebrows rise. "And a wedding is just something to get over with is it?" he remarked drily.

Tom snorted, "Not yours. You're not exactly drunk in Vegas are you? I just meant she won't keep you waiting."

"I hope not." Chakotay murmured empathically, dragging his gaze away from the as yet unopened doorway to look out at the scene before him. It certainly _wasn't_ Las Vegas. Beyond the simple white altar under which Admiral Paris stood ready to perform his marrying duties, the Pacific Ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see. The mid-afternoon sun hung heavy in the sky, heating the golden sand and making the clear blue sea's surface sparkle like a precious crystal. It was hot enough that he was glad he'd forsaken the traditional morning suit for an airy white linen shirt and smart but light dark trousers. The cool coastal breeze that tossed the decorations around playfully and whipped soft foaming waves into the water brought the temperature down to comfortable and as Chakotay took in his surroundings he truly believed that this would be the perfect when Annika was finally with him…

A sharp jab in the side by Tom's helpful elbow brought him out of his daydream and back to reality, which turned out to be better. Later he would hear guests discussing the cute antics of Kathryn's daughter and younger son as the played up their roles as flower girl and ring bearer, how beautiful the bridesmaids had been or how adoringly Tom had gazed at B'Elanna and her loving smile in return. For now however Chakotay was oblivious to all as Annika walked towards him, arm in arm with her father and looking resplendent in the most beautiful dress he'd ever seen. "You look stunning." He whispered to her breathlessly as she finally reached his side.

A light blush settled on Annika's cheeks even as her beaming smile widened in response. "You don't look half bad yourself." She quipped affectionately as she studied him appreciatively, causing him to chuckle warmly as she let her father's hand go and laced her fingers around his instead.

Admiral Owen Paris' booming voice interrupted the sweet tête-à-tête. "Who gives this woman to this man?"

"Her mother and I do." Magnus Hansen replied, his voice thick with emotion as he smiled fondly at his eldest daughter.

Admiral Paris smiled at him in understanding, and then looked to the couple. "Then, as my son would say, let's get this show on the road." Tom's laughter at this comment outdid even the liveliest of the other guests and the bride and groom exchanged a wry smile.

* * *

"Are you sure we should be sneaking out of our own wedding reception?" Annika asked doubtfully as her new husband led her by the hand out of the house into the warm summer night.

"I wasn't the one complaining about us never being alone together was I?" Chakotay replied teasingly as he guided her down the path back to the beach, now gloriously empty, lit only by the lights seeping from the house and the carpet of bright stars above. The gentle lap of the waves against the sheltered shore was the only sound which competed with their voices.

Annika giggled, "Okay, I'll admit that I complained a _little_, but we really haven't had a minute alone today! I just don't want to seem ungrateful…"

Chakotay gave her hand a squeeze as he sat down on the sand, "I don't think they'll see it as ungrateful honey. In fact, they'll probably find it funny that we've run away together." He grinned as she laughed again, "We'll go back and thank everyone before they leave, okay?"

Annika nodded happily, "That sounds like a good compromise." She agreed, sighing contentedly as she lay back in the sand, pulling Chakotay down with her and cuddling into his side as she gazed up at the stars above them. "Do you think Voyager is home yet?" she murmured after a few minutes of peaceful silence.

Chakotay took a deep breath before answering, "If not yet, then they're still on they're way." He finally said determinedly, "We both know that, if nothing else." He saw sadness flicker across her face and gave her a quick kiss, "Don't worry, the crew will be fine. B'Elanna and Tom will have had their baby, maybe the Commander and Seven have beaten us to getting married…"

Annika leaned over him, her long hair brushing against his forehead. "Maybe, that would be nice." She gave him a long, lingering kiss. "Hopefully they're just as happy as I am right now…"

Chakotay pulled her down onto his chest, wrapping his arms tight around her. "As happy as we _both_ are."

* * *

_U.S.S Voyager_

Chakotay woke up suddenly with a violent jolt, breathing hard as he recognised his quarters and tried to banish the nightmare that had been taunting him as he slept. Unthinkingly, he reached over by force of habit to the other side of the bed, cringing as his fingers found only cold sheets. "Computer, time." He ordered, his voice hoarse with tiredness.

"The time is 0421 hours." The Computer answered stiltedly.

Chakotay sighed heavily as he climbed out of the bed. He had the morning Bridge shift today anyway, there was no reason why he couldn't relieve Harry a couple of hours early. He knew from weeks of experience that sleep had abandon him and what worried him couldn't be settled for the day until later. Forcing his muscles, aching from stress, to carry his weight, he moved through to the bathroom to wash and dress, walking past Seven's regeneration unit as he did so.

His arrival on the Bridge didn't surprise many of those manning the Bridge, their First Officer had been practically an insomniac for weeks now. "Report Lieutenant." He requested quietly. Harry Kim had been given his well earned promotion by the Captain over a year ago.

"Yes sir." Harry replied quickly, rising from the Captain's chair where he'd been holding down the fort as it were. "Astrometrics picked up on an unknown spacial phenomenon two hours ago. I set a heading to investigate, since it's on our course home."

"Good work Harry." Chakotay gave the younger man a wan smile, "I'll relieve you, go and get some sleep."

Harry paused, studying his face worriedly before remembering to reply, "Yes Commander." He frowned, finally vocalising the question in everyone's mind. "Is everything okay Chakotay?"

Chakotay forced his shoulders to relax. "Nothing has changed Harry, I'm just feeling a little wound up that's all."

Harry nodded sympathetically, "Of course." He headed for the turbolift. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah." Chakotay muttered distractedly in reply as he took Harry's place on the Bridge.

Over three hours passed before another arrival interrupted Chakotay's silent brooding, it was Tom Paris coming to take on his shift at the comm. "Still waiting Chakotay?" he asked as he walked to his post.

Chakotay ran a hand through his hair. "If I wasn't still waiting the whole ship would've heard by now."

Tom gave a small laugh, "You're right about that." He conceded, "Listen, I know from experience that the last weeks are the hardest. I promise it'll be worth it in the end." He told him kindly.

Chakotay gave him a real smile, hope appearing briefly in his eyes. "I know." Tom gripped his shoulder supportively in answer before sitting at the comm.

"I'll take over now Chakotay, I've had my morning coffee." The Captain said warmly in greeting as she stepped unexpectedly out of the turbolift.

"My shift isn't over yet Captain…" Chakotay began, standing up from the chair.

"You did half of Harry's shift for him." Janeway reminded him gently, "I'm sure the Doctor can be convinced to let you into Sickbay for an early visit, especially if I say he has to."

Chakotay lit up despite himself. "Thanks Captain." He said gratefully.

"My pleasure, tell Seven I'll come to see her later." The Captain told him warmly.

"I will." Chakotay agreed as he hurriedly entered the turbolift.

The journey to Sickbay was a very short one but that fact didn't slow Chakotay's haste or dampen his impatience as he entered and was immediately faced with a mildly irate Doctor. "How is she?"

"The night went well, there were no problems." The Doctor replied perfunctorily as he filled a hypospray, "I presume you want her to be woken early? Really Commander, I'd expect you to know that I keep your wife here for the sake of her health and that of your unborn child…"

"I know that Doctor!" Chakotay snapped defensively before guiltily backing down, "I try not to worry so much, but…"

The Doctor patted his arm kindly, regretting his irritable outburst. "I know Commander, I know, but it won't do Seven any good to see you in here with her being treated for stress and exhaustion, alright?" He waited for Chakotay to nod before approaching Seven's biobed and injecting the hypospray into her exposed neck. "As I told you both yesterday, she's beyond 36 weeks now, which means the baby is term, the best possible scenario, but that also means that she needs to be monitored even more closely for signs of labour. When she's safely had the baby you'll never have to leave her side again if you don't want to." The Doctor assured him.

"I won't, not for a good few days at least." Chakotay said with a fervent grin as he watched Seven's eyelids flutter then open more fully.

A drowsy smile pulled at her lips as she recognised her husband's voice. "Chakotay?" she mumbled, the smile growing as she looked up at him, "The Doctor relented, you're early."

"Only by half an hour." Chakotay informed her with a tired chuckle, "I do actually believe the Doctor when he says you need to rest."

"I'm on bed rest, resting is somewhat obligatory." Seven remarked drily as she pulled her by now awkward frame, made almost impossibly large by pregnancy, into a sitting position, reluctantly accepting her husband's help to do so. She pursed her lips pensively as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You are exhausted." She murmured anxiously as she pressed her hands affectionately to his face, scanning the worry lines that had creased his face over the past few weeks. It had been a difficult pregnancy, at least in the third trimester. Only two months ago she'd still been working in Astrometrics but after a premature labour scare the Doctor had been sedating her for most of the day in order to monitor the baby and regulate her cybernetic systems carefully. She felt that Chakotay had had more to cope with, worrying about her and their unborn son while still having the responsibility of being First Officer. "I'm fine." She told him resolutely, kissing him softly as he glanced at her abdomen, "We're _both_ going to be fine."

Chakotay clasped her hands and pressed them to his lips. "You are." He smiled warmly, "If we feel stressed now, what are we going to be like when he's a teenager?" he joked.

"I wouldn't know." Seven said airily, "I haven't been a proper teenager, let alone a teenage boy."

"Well, I have…" Chakotay began laughingly before his comm. badge interrupted him.

"Chakotay, that spacial anomaly is a wormhole!" Janeway exclaimed excitedly.

**A/n: A wedding, a baby and a wormhole, I'm spoiling you all! Lol. PLEASE REVIEW! :D Baby name suggestions please!**


	30. Chapter 30

_U.S.S Voyager_

"A wormhole?" Seven repeated seriously before either Chakotay or the Doctor could gather their wits sufficiently after the Captain's shock declaration. "Are you certain Captain?"

The Captain could be heard taking a deep, calming breath on the other side of the comm. line; Seven's enquiring tone obviously reining in her suddenly uncontrollable hopes. "As certain as we can be without going in to get a closer look with scanners." She replied, her tone now dominated by the practical scientist in her nature rather than the idealistic woman searching for home.

"I'm sure I can refine the scanners to assess the phenomenon more clearly." Seven told her with more confidence than she felt as she sat up on her biobed and started to swing her legs over to stand, an irritatingly awkward manoeuvre this late in her pregnancy, intending to move to the nearest console.

"Seven, you're not supposed to be doing any work." Chakotay intervened with a gentle but firm hand on her arm before she could stand. "If you give Icheb or Harry instructions over the comm. they'll be able to do whatever modifications we need to find out if we're really dealing with a wormhole."

"Icheb has not attempted the scans I intend to run before and Lieutenant Kim, capable as he is, wouldn't be able to interpret the scans even if I told him how to deploy them." Seven countered, looking at her husband levelly, "It would be more efficient for me to do this myself, then we could more quickly decide whether or not this anomaly is a feasible route to the Alpha Quadrant. If we delay then the crew could have the expectations raised unnecessarily."

Chakotay's anxiety yielded a little as his wife's rationale sunk in. They had had too many lost opportunities already and in all honesty he admitted to himself that Seven, on bed rest or not, was probably the only person on this ship remotely qualified to check if this so called "wormhole" was what it appeared to be, let alone safe for them to travel through. With a fond, if somewhat exasperated, smile, he conceded, "If you really believe it would be for the best…"

"I do." Seven answered with quiet sincerity, giving his clenched hand an affectionate squeeze, "It would certainly be better for our baby to be born on Earth, so allow me to check if that is a possibility." She breathed a relieved sigh as Chakotay nodded with a warm, but still apprehensive, smile of agreement.

"I'm going to decide not to be offended by that comment, since I know you have the upmost confidence in my abilities." The Doctor remarked airily, eyebrows raised markedly. "Also, in my position as your current doctor, I'm advising you not to be anywhere else but here if we're really going to be rattling through a wormhole."

Seven shot him an amused glance as she tried to walk forward quickly on her woefully inadequate Sickbay issue slippers. "I'm going to route the sensor data through one of the consoles in here, there should be no reason for me to leave." She told him tightly, unconsciously placing a protective hand over her swollen abdomen as she reached said console and began to dial in multiple commands at once.

After a few minutes of watching the data flicker over the console at superhuman speeds only Seven could clearly read for several minutes, she startled both men with an amazed gasp. "What is it?" Chakotay asked sharply, "It's not a real wormhole? Are we in some kind of danger?"

Seven shook her head, her brows knitting together in deep thought as she answered without tearing her eyes away from the console. "It's definitely a real wormhole…in most respects." She replied cryptically without answering the second question, leaning on Chakotay to support her weakened body for a moment as she looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, "Are you willing to accompany me to the Bridge to monitor the baby? I must report my findings directly to the Captain."

The Doctor had denied many requests from Seven for more freedom during her two months of enforced bed rest, but he knew better than to reject this one, with her implacably serious tone, and pulled out a tricorder to scan her. "Of course." He agreed quietly, ignoring Chakotay's slightly surprised look before he too met Seven's eyes in concern.

"Let's go then." Chakotay murmured, taking her arm to walk with her as his only concession to her pregnancy. After so many years of struggling through so many dangerous, and often downright strange, obstacles on the path back home, he knew when to listen to his wife's often eerily accurate instincts. "Knowing the Captain, she would've called you up to the Bridge soon anyway." He added with a ghost of a smile.

Seven's smile in return was genuine, going a long way to settle Chakotay's mind into determination. "I know, that's why I didn't resist my urge to ask."

* * *

The Captain, to her credit, appeared instantly worried when Seven of Nine appeared on the Bridge for the first time in weeks. "Seven! Should you really be out of Sickbay…"

"In this situation, yes Captain." Seven answered matter-of-factly before involuntarily pausing as she was struck by the image which completely filled the Bridge's large viewscreen.

"I'm monitoring her condition Captain." The Doctor reassured the Captain as Chakotay reluctantly left Seven's side to take up his duty as First Officer again.

"Good." The Captain replied in relief before smiling widely as she followed both Seven and Chakotay's transfixed gazes. "Spectacular isn't it?" she murmured knowingly as she again let her eyes sweep over the beautiful opening in space, like a coiled rainbow, which could be their way home.

"Yes, perfectly manufactured." Seven agreed simply.

There where several shocked intakes of breath as the Bridge crew tried to absorb the meaning of what Seven had just said but B'Elanna, quick off the mark as always, got in first. "_Manufactured_?" she echoed incredulously, "Wait, are you saying someone _created_ this wormhole?"

Seven gave a soft sigh, "Precisely." She confirmed, "All of the sensor readings I've been able to interpret thus far clearly indicate that this wormhole was built by Species 182."

"Species 182?" The Captain repeated, "Seven, you never told me the Borg had encountered a species who could _build_ wormholes…"

Seven shrugged nonchalantly, her eyebrows arching only slightly. "Captain, if I told you everything about all of the capabilities of every species which outstripped the Federation we would be talking for a _very_ long time." She pointed out wryly.

Tom had to laugh at that despite the circumstances. "I think she's got you there Captain." He said good-naturedly.

The Captain just gave her pilot a smirk in reply before addressing Seven again. "What can you tell us about Species 182 and their wormholes, now that it's relevant to tell us?"

Seven took a deep breath before launching into an explanation which would no doubt summon a barrage of questions. "I did not tell you of Species 182 because they are believed to be extinct, were never assimilated in fact. The Borg learned of them by analysing remnants of their technology such as…" She shifted painfully from foot to foot as she gestured at the wormhole, "…their transport conduits they left in space, these phenomenon are what Borg transwarp technology is based on." She stopped again for a moment as her discomfort increased, but ignored Chakotay's intensely concerned glance her way and continued, "It is believed that the building of these conduits, as in the case with all of their achievements, was facilitated by their successful harassing of Omega."

"The Omega particle?" Harry interrupted in awe, "The Borg worship that as perfection don't they?"

"I can see why." B'Elanna commented, "If using it can build wormholes from scratch."

Seven flinched at the use of the word "worship" in regards to the Borg. "The Collective did admire it for a reason, not just for the sake of it." She said coolly.

"This is all very interesting…" Tom began, "But does any of it mean that that wormhole, or "conduit" as you called it Seven, could take us back to the Alpha Quadrant."

"Yes." Seven answered shortly, speaking louder to drown out the abrupt outburst of excited babble around her, "If it remains as stable as it appears to be at the moment, it could theoretically take us anywhere in the galaxy."

"We would need to map it?" The Captain guessed.

"At least partially." Seven responded, "The Borg have a method for doing so with radiation bursts…" An unexpectedly sharp pain shooting hotly through her body made her words shorten to a startled gasp.

The Doctor was suddenly beside her, peering at his tricorder intently. "That's a method you won't be directing yourself I'm afraid Seven, you need to go back to Sickbay."

"Why?" Seven mumbled uncomprehendingly, a choked laugh leaving her throat as Chakotay returned to her hurriedly and realisation dawned, "Oh…" She muttered, flushing in embarrassment.

"Yes." The Doctor confirmed patiently as he helped Chakotay lead her back to the turbolift. "I presume she can be relieved of duty for now Captain."

Captain Janeway laughed, this was certainly turning out to be a memorable day! "Of course, at your discretion Doctor!" she replied before smiling reassuringly at Seven, "Don't worry about things up here, we'll get working on that method you mentioned. I'm willing to bet your son will be born on Earth!"

* * *

The Captain walked into Sickbay, surprised to find it tranquil and quiet. "Doctor?" she called out worriedly.

The hologram appeared in her line of sight from the back of Sickbay, looking decidedly strained but rubbing his hands together in a satisfied manner. "Good morning Captain."

"It certainly is." The Captain said warmly, allowing her smile to widen. "After a long night for you I hear. If I didn't know you were a hologram, I'd say you look ready to sleep on your feet!"

"I may be a hologram but that would be a good description of how I feel." The Doctor admitted wryly, "If you'd told Lieutenant Paris to fly a little quicker I might've had a few nurses available to lighten the load."

"I assure you, Tom pushed the flying regulations to breaking point!" The Captain told him laughingly, before smiling at him knowingly. There was no way the Doctor would've let anyone else near Seven, not on Voyager and not on Earth. "That baby was just determined to come that bit quicker that's all. He must've really wanted to meet you."

The Doctor beamed proudly, "He does need to get to know me right from the beginning if he's going to be a doctor…"

Janeway's eyebrows rose in amusement, "Oh, has that been decided already? I'll need to talk to his parents, I already had him marked out as a future Starfleet Captain."

The Doctor stifled a happy laugh, "I'm just pointing out that if Seven had ever had the inclination, she had the makings of a fine doctor, and I'm _sure_ her son will have."

"We'll see." The Captain finished, drifting excitedly over to the back of Sickbay where the Doctor had come from and seeing to her delight that Seven was sitting up with her baby just visible as a bundle in her arms with Chakotay looking on adoringly. The couple were utterly oblivious to her presence and it actually made her a little guilty to poke her way into their private world. "So, how's the _Alpha _Quadrant's newest arrival?" she asked softly.

"Captain!" Seven exclaimed as she finally noticed her, her voice weak with exhaustion.

"Congratulations to both of you." The Captain said warmly as she headed eagerly over, peeking under the blankets as Seven moved to show her first born off and then smiled at the new father. "He looks just like you Chakotay!"

Chakotay's grin grew as he looked down at his son, then lovingly at his wife. "Then let him be like Seven in every other way." He told her, kissing Seven briefly on the lips to stop her fervent objections before glancing back at Janeway questioningly, "So we really made it back then Kathryn? This isn't all some kind of dream?"

"Didn't you feel us travelling through? It wasn't exactly a smooth ride…" The Captain remarked in amusement.

Seven's lips twitched wryly, "I wasn't very aware of anything myself, considering I was reaching the end of my labour at that point, but the Doctor did inform us after the baby arrived safely." She sighed regretfully and eyed the Captain nervously, "I apologise that I wasn't able to be of more assistance to the crew Captain…"

Janeway gave her protégé a mildly exasperated look. "You _were_ of assistance Seven, and anyway, all of the crew knew and were glad that our final little crewmember was coming." She smiled indulgently down at the dozing baby, "Now, what I am going to tell the crew to tide them over until the Doctor lets them all visit? Do you at least have a name yet?"

Chakotay looked at Seven questioningly. He'd been surprised that his wife, who normally decided everything well in advance, had been reluctant to choose a name before their son was born. Now though, her fears about his health had been, mercifully, unfounded, so he hoped now they could make a choice together and get on with their new life together as a family of three. "Well, not yet…" He began to answer.

"I have." Seven interrupted firmly, "Amal Kotay."

Chakotay stared at her in a delighted disbelief that told her she'd made the right choice. "After me?" he whispered.

Seven arched her eyebrows at him, "Who else?" she queried, "Although your alternate also shared that name and he apparently helped Voyager so…" She was again cut off by his kiss, this time deeper.

"Are you sure?" he whispered against her lips as he broke the kiss.

"Yes." Seven replied as she kissed him back, trapping his lips against hers. "It suits him, although I think he can get your formal name of "Amal" rather than "Chakotay" in order to avoid confusion."

"That's fine with me." Chakotay agreed, hugging her still fragile body to his as she shivered with exhaustion.

"How about we let Amal have his first view of Earth?" The Captain suggested warmly, stepping back to let the couple see the image of that beloved blue marble appear on Sickbay's console, the image transmitted from the Bridge's viewscreen.

"Thanks Captain." Chakotay said gratefully as he sat down on the edge of the biobed, as close to Seven and Amal as he could get.

"I'll go and tell everyone you're doing fine." The Captain said quietly by way of goodbye before unobtrusively leaving the new family alone.

They sat in silence watching Earth approach them on the console for a few minutes before Chakotay felt Seven shudder as she huddled into his side and he looked down at her in concern. "Are you worried about Earth honey? I promise you it'll be fine."

Seven sighed, biting her lip as she unconsciously cuddled Amal closer to her. "I know." She assured him quietly, "I did live there, or a version of it, for a few days, remember?"

Chakotay chuckled, "How could I forget?" He swallowed as he watched her unreadable expression, "Your family wouldn't be there this time though."

Seven met his eyes, wondering, not for the first time, how it was that he knew her so well. It did hurt to think that, on this Earth, her parents and a sister wouldn't be waiting for her, but as she looked down at her new son and then back at the husband she adored, acceptance and a form of contentment she'd never known washed over her. "I have my family here with me." She replied confidently as she kissed Chakotay lovingly.

_The End_

**A/n: Endings are always a challenge to write well, I really hope you all like this one. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D**

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story and/or put it on their favourites and alert lists. I really appreciate it. **


End file.
